


Symphogear EX: With a Flash, The World Begins

by Illindus



Series: Symphogear EX [1]
Category: Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Genre: Action, Adventure (kinda), Alternate Universe, Drama, F/F, Gen, Tags and Characters added as the appear, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-03-29 08:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13923180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illindus/pseuds/Illindus
Summary: One action is all it takes to change a person's life. Kohinata Miku learned this the hard way when she invited her best friend to the Zwei Wing Concert two years ago. That day changed her life forever: losing her best friend then being used as a scapegoat by the town she once called home. However, on a rare day when she could visit her friend's grave, she finds a strange red pendant that causes her life to change once more.[ON HIATUS]





	1. The Song's Beginning

The sound of raindrops could be heard all around. A constant beat of one, two, one, two, one, two. The pale, sickly girl counted the beat of the rain on her skin while waiting at the stop. Waiting for the bus. She had a gift, a bouquet of flowers, for her best friend. The girl's expression was neutral. Though if one saw her, they might describe it instead as a cold, melancholy one. She got onto the bus. Water trailed from her stringy black hair, falling onto the bus floor. The only sounds on the bus were the beat of the rain and the hum of the engine. The bus came a slow stop. They had arrived at the graveyard. She departed from the bus and walked toward one of the many graves in the field. She sat down in front of the cold grave.

“Hey, I brought you something,” Miku said setting the bouquet down at her friend’s grave, something warm fell from her eyes, tears, “Sorry I haven’t been able to visit more often. But you know how it is. Your parents hate me after all.

“I miss you,” Miku choked on her tears, “It’s been two whole years, and I still miss you. Hibiki.”

Miku fell to her knees. Warm droplets of water ran from her face and landed on the grave. Hibiki was dead. She had been for two years. And it was all her fault. She was the one who asked Hibiki to go to the Zwei Wing concert with her. The concert that had been attacked by Noise leaving only a single survivor. The idol Kazanari Tsubasa. Miku hadn’t even been there when Hibiki died, a family situation had came up, making it so she couldn’t go. Miku didn’t go to school for a few days after the concert, after all she’d just killed her best friend.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Miku bawled. It wouldn’t do anything though, apologizing wouldn’t change anything.

She saw a blurry red gleam out of the corner of her eye. She wiped away her tears to see what it could be. It was a pendant, made of some sort of red stone.

“What…” she picked up the pendant, “Is this?”

She put the pendant in the pocket of her hoodie jacket. She stood, and walked out of the graveyard. She didn’t feel like taking the bus again. She started on the way back home, walking.

It was a long road back, all the scenery looked nice in the rain. Miku walked, and walked, and walked. Suddenly she felt a hard shove and fell down onto the pavement.

“Well if it isn’t little miss murderer,” a voice jeered at her, “What do you think you’re doing, visiting a graveyard of people you’ve killed.”

_‘Shut up’_ Miku thought clenching her fist against the pavement

A kick to her back. “Are you just appreciating your fine work.”

_‘Shut. Up.’_ Miku tried to stand up.

Pushed back onto the ground, harder this time, “Don’t tell me you actually feel _bad_ about it,” the person mocked.

“SHUT! UP!” Miku yelled turned over onto her back and kicked the person.

She ran, ran as fast as she could, ran, ran, ran. It started as a rumor. A rumor that had started from people who were grieving. A rumor that started from grieving parents. A rumor that went out of control. A rumor that turned her into a scapegoat. A rumor that had speared. A rumor that spread through the town, as if it was a disease. A rumor that she, had been the one behind the incident. A rumor that turned former friends against her. A rumor that made her life hell. _Hell._   **Hell. _Hell._**   _ **Hell.**_ Tears streamed down her cheeks. Everyday since then had been hell.

The sheer humiliation of it all eroded at her soul _ **.**_  Every time she left home, **_every single time_** , she had to cling to shadows just to attempt to be safe. People barely talked with her since then, the most they would was to call her _**murderer,**_ before pushing her down the stairs, or chasing her through the street. It wasn't even just strangers _**her own parents**_ did the same thing.

It's not like they ever called her **_murderer_** , but over those two year they began to stop talking with her. Stop _**associating**_ with her. Until they just disappeared, leaving her without anyone other than her aunt.

And then there was more. And more. And more. But she deserved it. She was the one who killed her friend. Murdered her. Killed her. _Killed her._ Why? _Why?_ **Why?** _**Why?**_   Why did this happen this way?

“Why…” Miku fell to her knees and cried.

\-----

The girl, clad in orange armor, thrust her spear forward into the first Noise. _Cachunk._ The pistons on her feet released, she flew forward, a row of humanoid Noise skewered by her spear.

**[-Runthrough-Spear-]**

She spun around, slashing the Noise that were around her. Her long brown hair flowed through the air as she did. It was like a dance, every slash, thrust, dodge, all flowing together in a fluid movement. A dance to the songs that they sang to the beat of the battlefield.

Several flying Noise dived toward her. “Cra—” A volley of arrows came from behind her, disintegrating the flying Noise.

**[APOLLO RAIN]**

“Thank you, Chris,” the girl turned to face her friend.

“Don’t rush ahead so fast, Fen,” said Chris, lowering her bow, “Jeez, what would you do if I couldn’t shoot them down.”

“I’d work it out somehow,” Fenrir said, smiling at her friend, the pistons on her feet released as she made a leap, and stabbed the Noise that was about to attack her friend, “I always do.”

“Come on, we need to move, she might catch—” Chris stopped. A red mist had began pouring in through the trees around them, “Crap, she’s here.” _‘Think Chris, how does she keep catching up just when we lose her.’_

A tall woman with long blond hair walked out of the trees, holding a staff in her arms, “And, just where do you two think you’re going,” she taunted.

Chris aimed her bow, and fired a single arrow.

**[ZEUS’ WRATH]**

The arrow split into several smaller arrows mid air. The woman looked bored as she raised a hand, and blocked the arrows with a barrier.

**[ASGARD]**

Chris fell backward from the recoil. _‘Shit, my sync rate is dropping. Fast. If I had fired that a second later, I doubt I’d still be able to move’_.

“Can you stand?” asked Fenrir.

“Just about,” Chris stood up slowly, and whispered, “Disengage your gear… I think she’s been tracking our gear signals, and now that there’s anti-LiNKER involved… we’d have a better chance running without our gears.”

“Alright,” Fenrir whispered back.

“HAAAAA,” Fenrir threw her spear at the woman. The woman summoned her barrier to block the throw. There was a flash of light. The two girls were no longer in their armors. “Let’s fly!” Fenrir grabbed Chris’ hand and ran.

“If that’s how you’ll play it, so be it,” Energy came out from the staff the woman was carrying, materializing as Noise, “Heh, these Noise should be able to finish the job for me.”

\-----

The Noise were hot on their tails as they ran, hand in hand. They ran and ran and ran. Fenrir looked behind them.

“Looks like we can rest here for now,” Fenrir slowed down and stopped, “The Noise seem far enough away.”

“Thanks…  I needed… to catch… my breath,” Chris said.

The two took many ragged breaths in silence. Fenrir suddenly looked straight into the red eyes of her friend.

Fenrir stared into her friend’s eyes, and opened her mouth, “I’m sorry.”.

“Huh?” Chris looked shocked at the sudden apology, “What for, Fen?

“I promised we would get away together, but it looks like we have a better chance at running if we split up here.”

“...What do you mean, Fenrir,” Chris, looked deep into her friend’s amber eyes.

“There’s too many Noise right now, we wouldn’t be able to escape if we went together, if we went separately…” Fenrir turned away from her friend as she talked, unable to look her in the eye. “I think we would at least have a chance. The Noise’s numbers would be cut in half. That would be easier to avoid.”

“No! You Idiot! I’m not about to leave you!” Yelled Chris.

“That would be possible if we could activate our gears without her finding us,” Fenrir gave Chris a somber smile and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll see each other again eventually. Someday.”

“But… but...”

Fenrir took her friend’s hands. “It’s okay, Chris. Everything’s okay.”

Chris relaxed at the familiar phrase. “Alright. Yeah, that’s our best shot. Just don’t be crying when you say it,” Chris reached out and wiped the tears streaming from her friend’s eyes, “It makes, doing it harder.”

The girls stood up. The Noise would catch up to them any minute. They turned away from each other, about to start running in opposite directions.

“Promise me that we’ll meet again,” said Fenrir.

“I won’t,” Chris paused, “Because we _will_ see each other again.”

And with that, the two girls took off in opposite directions, running as fast as they could.

\-----

The crying girl stood up and looked at her surroundings. Miku couldn’t see anything she recognized. She was lost. No buildings were around her. Only trees, trees, and more trees.

_‘Great, now I need to figure out how to get back,’_ she thought, putting her purple hood over her head she turned around… and got tackled.

“Who runs in the middle of the woods,” Miku looked at the white-haired girl. “Who… Are you?”

“Why is there a person here?” Chris wondered aloud, “…Shit, now I’ve dragged someone else into my mess”

Miku noticed something far behind the girl who had just tackled her. Some… many things. Noise. Her body moved without her thinking. She had grabbed the white-haired girl’s hand and was running at full speed.

“What are Noise doing here!?” Miku yelled, telling her body to go faster.

“That’s…” The white-haired girl paused then sighed, “Let go. They’re only after me you should be able to get away if you leave me here.”

“No!” Miku yelled, “I don’t want to leave another person to die! Stay behind me, I'll protect you!”

“What are you talking about, you have a death wish or something?” Chris asked in disbelief.

They ran and ran and ran. Past many trees. Deeper into the forest. Deeper, deeper and deeper. Miku ran straight over a root of a tree, and it had caught her shoe. She fell. Straight down into the dirt. Miku staggered trying to get up. She looked around them. They were surrounded by Noise.

“There’s nowhere left to run,” Chris said, “We’re surrounded.”

_‘Of course the Noise followed me,’_ Chris thought, fists clenched.

‘ _Damn it, another person is going to die because of me,’_   Miku thought, _‘And I can’t do anything about it.’_

Miku stuck her hands into the pocket of her jacket. Was there anything she could use. Huh? She took out the pendant in her pocket. It was… glowing.

“That’s a… gear. Why do you have that?” Chris looked on in disbelief.

_Koleshi Excalibur Tron_

Miku sang those words without thinking. A bright flash of light. Suddenly Miku was clad in purple armor, and the hilt of a sword manifested in her hand. A beam of purple energy came out of the hilt forming the shape of a blade.       

“What is this?”

“I don’t believe it. It was actually a gear,” said Chris, “but I don’t recognize it from anything that Finé ever showed us.”

“Hey, you,” Chris said to Miku, “You might be able to save me after all.”

“What do you mean?” Miku asked.

“You’ll see when you hit a Noise with your sword. Now give ‘em hell.”

Miku ran forward. _‘One two, One two’_ She slashed at a Noise. It... disintegrated?

_‘I can fight them?’_ Miku had always thought regular weapons didn’t work on Noise. It was at this moment that Miku realized she was singing. Electronic beats came out of the armor she was wearing, and she was singing to the rhythm, the words to the song came straight from her heart without her even thinking them.

A giant Noise swung its arm at her. Miku slashed the arm off with her sword. Then she ran forward, slashing the Noise’s legs and disintegrating it.

Miku saw several Noise advancing toward Chris. She couldn’t get there in time. _‘Please let me protect her’_ Miku thought. Suddenly, as if responding to her feelings, a yellow barrier appeared in front of the girl.

**[Round Table]**

Chris’s expression could only be described as absolute shock. “What the hell are the powers of that gear? I thought it was a sword, I didn’t think it could do that!”

Miku didn’t know, nor did she have the time to answer the girl as several large Noise began to approach her. She tightened her grip on the hilt of her blade, and it suddenly flared up to a massive amount. Miku swung the enlarged sword in a circular motion. It cut through not just the large Noise but also most of the small ones in the area.

**[Dragon Slash]**

The sword’s blade went back down its regular size. She ran back to the white-haired girl and grabbed her hand. She felt something unnaturally hard around the area where the girl’s knuckles were.

“We’re getting out of here. Now,” Miku said, slashing at the remaining Noise.

“Couldn’t agree with you more,” the girl paused, “Yukine Chris.”

“What?”

“You asked who I was earlier. I was just answering your question.”

“Oh, I’m Kohinata Miku, nice to meet you.

And the two girls continued running, hand in hand.

\-----

The clacking noise as their fingers hit the keyboard was only sound in the headquarters. Two people were on computers, a man with brown hair and a woman with blue hair, trying to analyze the signal being displayed on the screen at the end of the room. A third person, a man who had red hair and was wearing a red shirt with the end of his tie stuffed into his shirt pocket, was standing at a podium in the middle. The door to the room opened. A tall girl with long flowing blue hair walked in.       

“Commander, why did you call me,” She asked.

The man with red-hair responded, “We picked up signals from Noise in another area...”

“Right, I’ll see to it right away,” said the blue-haired girl, she turned around to leave the room.

“Wait. Tsubasa, that isn’t what I called you for,” Kazanari Tsubasa stopped. “I called you here because something unexpected happened.”

“Cut to the important details, Commander,” Tsubasa said.

“These Noise disappeared a little after their signal came up,” the man paused, “and we caught signals of an unknown Aufwachen Waveform at the sight.”

Tsubasa turned to look at the Commander, her uncle Kazanari Genjuro, and said “That means…”

“Correct,” said Genjuro, “There’s another Relic user in that area, and we’re sending you to investigate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, this is my first fanfic so I would appreciate feedback, so please comment or review to tell me what you think on this. I should note that there have been many changes to the universe, like way more than it looks like at the start or seems like from the summary, so just a little forewarning there. If something seems a little off with the characters or just something in general, it's probably because of one of the universe changes. Due to the numerous backstories being changed, the characters will probably act slightly (or significantly) different to how they act in canon. Also, before I get questions about this, Miku's gear isn't Shenshoujing in this AU because if she had Shenshoujing in this AU the fight's wouldn't be fun to read or write because of it's gear deletion ability.


	2. Little by Little

Miku and Chris had been running for several hours. They were in a clearing in a forest when they realized it was safe to stop running.  A flash of light radiated from Miku’s armor, and suddenly she was back in her old clothes. Miku nearly collapsed on the ground.

“So,” Miku held out the gear pendant. “Please explain to me what this is?”

“That is a Relic,” said Chris.

“A Relic?” Miku said, putting the pendant back around her neck.

Chris narrowed her eyes. “Relics are products of heretical technology."

“Heretical technology?”

“Look, I am going to explain. Just listen,” Chris sighed. “They’re pieces of legendary weapons that cannot be reproduced for one reason or another. It’s also hard to find one which still holds power, since they were made so long ago. The way to release the powers of the ones that do still have power, is a song.”

“So, that’s why I sang then,” Miku tried to keep her voice as quiet as possible, so she wouldn’t get another glare from Chris.

“When the Relic is activated, it turns into energy and rebuilds itself as armor. We call this armor a Symphogear. Then the Symphogear user can build the energy into a weapon known as an Armed Gear which is usually unique to each gear. The Symphogear itself is the only weapon that can hurt Noise. Do you have any other questions?” The way she said that implied it wasn’t a question.

“So why singing?”

“Basically, Symphogears get stronger by syncing to melodies. This is called phonic gain. The greater the phonic gain the stronger the Symphogear gets. Anything else you want to know?”

“Hmmm,” Miku remembered something she wanted to ask. “How do you know this, and is there something wrong with your hand?”

“My hand?”

“I know, I know. It’s unrelated to the topic, but I felt something weird when I grabbed it earlier. Can you hold them out?”

Chris hesitantly held out her hands. There were unnatural red ridges on her knuckles.

“What happened?”

Chris jerked her hands out of Miku’s view. “That’s none of your business!”

“Oh,” Miku looked down, “Sorry.”

Miku had nothing left to ask. A moment of silence passed as they sat together without making a single noise, trying to listen to the sounds of the forest. Only the noise of whirling wind above them was heard.

…Wait. Wind didn’t normally make a whirring noise, then what could it…

Miku and Chris looked up into the sky. Why was there a helicopter?

\-----

“So, is this where the Aufwachen Wave Pattern, was last seen!?” Tsubasa yelled over the sound of the helicopter blades.

“If our information was correct it should be!” Shinji Ogawa replied.

“Then, here I go!” Tsubasa took a deep breath and leapt out of the helicopter.

Tsubasa closed her eyes as she fell, wind bellowing in her ears. She took a long breath, opened her mouth and sang.

_Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri Tron_

Blaze of light engulfed the sword as she fell. A bright light enveloped Tsubasa, as her gear took shape and wrapped around her. An Armed Gear, a blue and silver sword, materialized as she grabbed the handled and spun it around a few times. She landed near the two supposed wielders as the impact made ground give way and kicked up dust and dirt. When the dust had cleared, Tsubasa was already in a steady stance, staring at the two.

“Are you the one who used the Symphogear?” Tsubasa pointed her sword at the girl with black hair.

“What?” Miku stared. Her mouth hung slightly ajar. Everything that had happened this day was unexpected. First the Noise, then getting a Symphogear, and now a girl jumping out of helicopter… in a Symphogear… with blue hair… pointing a sword at her. Wait. Blue hair? And the face did look familiar… “…Wait aren’t you the idol Kazanari Tsubasa?”

“I asked you a question!” Tsubasa yelled.

“Um… no, I didn’t,” Miku realized her mistake as soon as she said it. _‘Crap, that wasn’t the right answer.’_

“Don’t mess around I can see the pendant around your neck!”

Tsubasa slowly readied her sword and got into a stance again. She charged at Miku and closed the distance within mere seconds using her leg thrusters. Miku fell back in surprise from the speed, arms held up as if that could do anything from whatever was to come.

She felt the urge to sing, and her pendant glowed.

_Koleshi Excalibur Tron_

Miku had just enough time to summon her sword when something hit her. Hard. She flew back into a tree after her opponent’s blade hit her.

“You’ll never win a fight if your first reaction to someone charging at you is to put on your armor,” Tsubasa rested her sword on her shoulder. “Activate your gear after you dodge, you wouldn’t have ended up in a tree if you did. Now, stand up and ready yourself. This fight isn’t over.”

Miku stood up. Slowly. She looked around to see if Chris was still in the area… ‘ _Thank god... she ran,’_ Miku thought, _‘I don’t have to worry about her getting hurt._ ’

“What’s with you,” Miku took several deep breaths, “acting like an instructor after threatening someone.”

Tsubasa raised her blade toward the sky. And swung. The edge of her sword shone with light.

**[Blue Flash]**

A beam came out of the sword and shot at the girl. Miku swung her blade through beam of energy, cutting it in half. She heard footfalls on the leaves. She turned to see her opponent quickly running toward her. Tsubasa quickly flipped her sword to its dull edge. She swung at her opponent. And…

She missed?

_Wham!_ A sword hit her from below, knocking the idol away. _‘She ducked!?”_ Tsubasa activated her thrusters in an attempt regain her balance midair. She landed on the ground and spun around, her sword outstretched. Miku jumped back, the swing narrowly missing her.

“You have good reflexes.” Tsubasa raised her sword toward the sky. “However, those won’t save you from this next attack.”

**[One Thousand Tears]**

Swords of blue energy rained from the sky. A yellow barrier appeared in the air, blocking the swords, before they even hit the ground.

**[Round Table]**

“Interesting, so your Armed Gear isn’t just a sword. It’s also a shield.”

Miku charged at Tsubasa, her sword’s beam flared up. She slashed at the girl in a circular motion.

**[Dragon Slash]**

Tsubasa jumped back. Midair the compartment on her thigh opened. She grabbed the sword that it released. And joined the blade by the hilt to her other sword. Spinning the blades in a brilliant swirl of flame, Tsubasa’s thrusters roared as she boosted toward Miku.

**[Wind Ring’s Fiery Blades]**

Miku aimed her blade at the charging girl. Energy condensed in the base of the blade before it was released in a brilliant beam of light.

**[Phoenix Flare]**

The blast hit Tsubasa dead on, knocking her into the air. Tsubasa activated her thrusters and rocketed back toward Miku, swords still in hand. Miku barely had time to jump out of the way of the attack, but the flames had still singed her arm.

“You put up a fine fight.” She heard Tsubasa say. “However, you still have a long way to go if you are to beat me.”

“Wha…” Miku turned around. Or at least tried to turn around. She couldn’t move. There was a small knife was protruding from her shadow.

**[Shadow Weaving]**

“When did you—” Tsubasa raised her sword up high. Miku closed her eyes as she braced for the oncoming attack. Tsubasa twirled her sword and switched into a reverse grip. With the pommel, she delivered a blow to the back of Miku's head.

_WHAM._ Miku felt the pain rattle through her head. Her vision blurred as everything faded into darkness.

“Now, time to get the other girl,” said Tsubasa.

\----

Miku wasn’t sure how long she’d been knocked out or where she was when she woke up. She heard two voices talking.

“Tsubasa, the orders I gave were to investigate and bring the user back, not beat them up,” Genjuro said, disapproval clear across his face.

Tsubasa crossed her arms. “It was merely to test her strength.”

“And what about the other girl you brought here?”

“She was a witness, and we needed to have her sign a nondisclosure agreement.”

Miku looked around, trying not to draw the attention of the two who were talking. She definitely wasn’t anywhere she recognized. She seemed to be lying on a white mattress in a room with brown walls and a low ceiling. She had a blanket over her. Chris was lying down passed out next to her. Miku sat up slowly. The bed creaked loudly as she sat up. Tsubasa and Genjuro turned toward her.

“I see you’re awake,” said Genjuro. “Apologies for Tsubasa’s actions, she wasn’t supposed to attack you.”

Miku nodded.

“You look a bit confused,” Genjuro held up a small cup. “Aoi left this here for you earlier, though it has lost a lot of its warmth. Drink it. It would be good to get something in your system.”

“Thanks,” Miku muttered taking the cup from the man.

“I suppose you have many questions.”

“Right…” Miku took a sip from the cup. “So, my first question is…”

\------

“…And that’s what the Second Division is and does” Genjuro said, finishing his explanation.

“So… I’m assuming you would like me to join,” Miku said, standing up from her seat.

Genjuro added, “Only if you’re willing to of course.”

“Sure,” Miku said, “I don’t mind.”

“You will also need to transfer into Lydian, so we can keep an eye on your actions,” Said Genjuro, “We will be informing your parents and old school of this. Do you need to get anything from there?”

“I wouldn’t bother telling them if I were you. I doubt they would care,” Miku sat down on the edge of the bed, jostling it. “If anything, that’s one burden they have off their shoulders.”

Miku heard a creaking sound from the bed. As expected, she saw Chris when she turned around.

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean!” Chris said.

“Oh, you’re awake,” said Miku. “Here.”

Miku handed Chris a cup. “This one’s yours apparently.”

“Thanks,” Chris said, grabbing the cup. “Answer my question, also, where are we?”

“You are in the Second Division Headquarters,” said Tsubasa, “and you are coming with me to sign a nondisclosure agreement.”

“Right…” Chris turned back to Miku. “But you will tell me afterward, you hear me!”

Chris and Tsubasa left the room.

“Do you have any more questions?” Genjuro asked.

“Should… I…?”

“I mean, I thought you would be asking about the Symphogear and what it is,” said Genjuro.

“Oh…” Miku paused and looked at her pendant. “I was told about what it was earlier.”

“By who?”

“Um… uh…” Miku looked around the room, _‘If she wasn’t willing to tell me about how she learned it, I doubt she’ll want me to tell these people about her knowledge.’_ She looked back to Genjuro, “I… um… for…got…”

“You forgot.”

“I forgot.”

Genjuro sighed, “I guess this is a blessing in disguise. I wouldn’t have been able to explain it well, and Ryoko-kun said she couldn’t make it because she was doing something important.”

Miku started to walk toward the door.

“One more thing,” said Genjuro

Miku stopped, “What.”

“Could you give us your Gear, we don’t have any data on it and we need to know what exactly it is,” Genjuro said, “We’ll give it back as soon as we have the data.”

“Catch,” Miku threw her pendant at the man and walked out of the room.

\------

Chris set down the pen she was signing the documents with to show that she was finished. Tsubasa walked forward, steps echoing in the silent room. The documents rustled when Tsubasa picked them up and flipped through them, scanning the information, to make sure it was adequate. “Hm.” She said with a satisfied grunt, tucking the documents under her arm.

She turned toward Chris. “So where do you live? It is my duty to escort you back safely.”

Chris’ eyes darted from side to side, unable to look the sword in the eyes, “Um…”

“Is, something the matter? The location of your home won’t be disclosed to others if that’s why you’re worried,” Tsubasa had deduced the look in Chris’s eyes was nervousness.

“It’s not that… it’s…” She took a deep breath to ease herself. It had been a long day, from beginning to end. Should she tell her that she didn’t have a place to stay? A place she could call home, no place to return to, no place to relax. No family or anyone to talk to. No safe place she could go to. Maybe they would provide her a place to stay? No, they wouldn’t. They might even keep her here to ensure the nondisclosure agreement. But at least that was better than being on the run, looking for a friend who might be dead for all she knew, without even a place to stay.

Chris looked down and off to the side. “I don’t… have a home…”

“You what?” Tsubasa said.

“I don’t have a home alright!” Chris raised her voice, slowly grabbing one of her arms as she slouched a little forward. “I don’t have one. I’m homeless. I don’t have anywhere to go…” She clenched her teeth as she muttered that.

“Hmmm,” Tsubasa put her hand to her chin. “I could get permission to have you transferred into Lydian as well. There you would get an education and a place to stay.”

“Is that really okay?” Chris asked, staring Tsubasa in disbelief.

“Of course, the girl who you were with, Kohinata if I recall, is also going to be transferring there, so you’d both have someone you knew when you get there.”

Chris turned her head to the side. “Thanks,” she muttered.

\-------

Chris walked up to her new dorm, her new home, alongside Tsubasa. She slowly opened the door and… there was a familiar figure sitting in the room. A girl with black hair, in a ponytail. She turned toward the sound of the door opening.

“Eh,” Miku couldn’t believe it. “You—”

“You’re in the same dorm as me!” Chris yelled in disbelief.

“Well obviously you two would have the same dorm, We don’t have infinite rooms, and you two are transferring in at the same time,” Tsubasa sighed. “This is actually one of the last dorms we have available for now, so starting today you two are roommates.”

Tsubasa slammed the door shut after Chris went in. Chris walked toward Miku.

“So, what did that mean?” Chris said. It was a statement, not a question.

“What… did what mean?”

“What did you mean when you said ‘I doubt they would care’ about your parents? They’re your parents aren’t they! Why wouldn’t they care.”

“Fine I’ll tell you,” Miku looked to the side, “on one condition.”

“Okay, what is it?” Chris asked.

“You answer me this: what happened to your hand, and why did you know about the Symphogear?”

“Fine. I won’t ask you about what you meant, if you don’t ask me, deal?” Chris said holding out her hand.

“Deal,” Miku shook her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, sorry for the two week long break between updates, editing this one took way longer than I thought it would. That being said, thanks everyone who commented on the last chapter for being interested in where this is going. I'm excited to take you there. If you need to know how far I decided to plan ahead for this fic series, I have pretty much have most of the major plot points in arc 2 and pretty much the entirety of the third arc (I cannot wait to get to that one) planned out at this stage. So I'll be glad to take you through all of the twists and turns as well as exactly how many things have changed in this AU. Anyway, please leave feedback and tell me what you think of this chapter.


	3. Metronome Beat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A forewarning for this chapter. First, this one hasn't actually been betaed by the person who normally helps me with betaing so, apologies in advance if the wording is a little awkward or if there are some grammar issues here or there. This chapter might get edited down the line after they have betaed it, I'll be sure to tell you when that happens.
> 
> Second, this is a mostly non-action chapter, but I'd advise that you read it, since this sets up events that will happen later on in this arc and during future ones.
> 
> Without further adieu, let's start this chapter.

_‘One two three, One two three,’_ Miku tapped her fingers on the side of her leg. She could practically hear her heart thumping against her chest as she did. She was a stranger entering a classroom full of people she didn’t know. Would her new classmates hate her? Of course they would, after all who would like, or even want to be friends with, a murderer. Oh, what the hell, time to just get this over with. Come on, _come on,_ hurry up, _hurry up,_ she thought, waiting for the teacher to call her to introduce herself.

“We have a new student transferring in,” Said the teacher, “Come on in, introduce yourself.”

Thump, thump, thump, thump, the rhythm of her heart beats… they were anything but stable as she walked in.

“I’m… Kohinata Miku,” she looked down as she said her name.

“Now take you seat,” said the teacher.

Miku slowly walked up the stairs to her seat. She walked through the aisle with her head down. She sat down.

“Hey,” Miku shuddered when she felt a tap on her shoulder from the direction that she heard the whisper, “Hey, you.”

Another voice chimed in, “Itabe-san, please don’t bother the new girl on her first day.”

“But, isn’t this just like an anime Shiori, I mean, a mysterious new transfer student in our class.”

“There you go, comparing things to anime again,” a third voice said, “Jeez, you’re always like this Yumi.”

Miku turned around and whispered, “Can you three, be quiet, I’m trying to listen to the lesson.”

There were three girls behind her. One had brown-hair in twin tails, and green eyes. Another had long blond hair that curled up slightly toward the bottom and honey-brown eyes. The third had short light-brown, well more like beige, hair, and pinkish-red eyes.

“Aaah she responded!” said the girl with twin-tails, Miku recognized her voice… So she was Yumi, “I have so many questions for you!”

“Yumi, she just asked us to be quiet, I don’t think she’s in any mood to be asked a ton of questions,” said that beige-haired girl.

“Oh, yeah you’re right Kuriyo, sorry about that new girl,” Yumi whispered, “I just got a little excited over having a transfer student is all.”

“It’s fine,” Miku muttered, “Also my name isn’t new girl, or ‘you’, it’s Kohinata Miku.”

“...And I do not appreciate people talking in my class, Kohinata-san!” the teacher yelled at her.

_‘Great, this day is going badly already,’_ Miku thought, _‘Why am I the one who is being yelled at, they started the conversation.’_

\-----

_‘How did this happen,’_ Miku thought as she ate lunch. The three girls, Shiori, Yumi, and Kuriyo, had sat down and decided to eat lunch with her. Were they trying to make her feel… welcome? Maybe, or they might just be trying to make her lower her guard. She just wanted to eat alone, but these three had decided they wanted to bother her.

“So, what made you transfer into this school?” Yumi excitedly asked.

“Ummm…” Miku looked around for a way to escape, “I just remembered, I’m supposed to be meeting with someone around now.”

“Oh… okay,” said Yumi, she looked down.

_‘Great job Miku, they’re just trying to be nice, you don’t even actually have a person to meet.’_

“Actually, I can always meet with them later,” said Miku, “I do still need to be shown around town after all, would you three like to?”

“Really!”

“Yeah…”

Miku sat back down and continued to eat her food.

“Have you read the news about the Silver Knife Murders recently?” Shiori asked.

“Was there another victim?” Kuriyo leaned forward and said in a hushed voice, “Was it another scientist?”

“Yeah, and the motive still is unknown,” said Shiori, “And, like the last ones, there was no connection between this victim and the others, other than the fact they were scientists.”

“The Silver Knife… Murders…?” Miku hadn’t heard about anything called that.

“It’s something Shiori’s been interested in recently,” said Kuriyo, taking a sip of her drink.

“I thought it was some kind of anime at first,” said Yumi, “But apparently it’s actually a real thing happening in America.”

“It’s a string of mysterious murders, and it’s not _just_ happening in America, the most recent one was actually here in Japan,” said Shiori, “The only thing linking the victims is that they’re all scientists, and that inside their bodies is always a single silver knife.”

“And that’s why these killings are called the Silver Knife Murders,” said Yumi.

“But here’s the strange part about them,” said Shiori, “And why I’ve been so interested in them. The knives always disappear as soon their touched, leaving no trace of itself behind.”

“Oh… that actually sounds kind of… interesting,” said Miku, “Maybe I’ll look it up later.”

**\-----**

The bell rang and all the students began to pack up their belongings.

“So Kohinata-san,” Shiori said putting her books back in her bag, “You need to be shown around town right?”

“...Actually, do you mind if I bring someone I know who also just transferred in too? I think she would appreciate it.” said Miku.

“No I don’t mind,” said Shiori, “What about you two?”

“I don’t mind either,” said Kuriyo, “What about you Yumi?”

“You have a friend?” Yumi asked Miku.

“Well… She’s just someone I know… I wouldn’t call her a friend.”

“Well sure! Bring her along, the more the merrier afterall!”

“Alright I’ll ask if she wants to. We’ll be waiting in the park for you.”

_One two three, one two three, one two._ Miku counted her steps as she ran back to her room. She ran through the winding hallways of the school, running toward her dorm. She opened the door. Chris was sitting on her bunk of the bed.

“Hey, Chris would you like to go to town?” She asked.

“Where’s this coming from.”

“Oh… some girls in my class offered to show me around town… and since you’re also new here I thought you might appreciate it as well.”

 

Chris stared at her.

 

…Silence.

 

The air felt heavy as they just stared at one another.

…Maybe she should’ve thought about this a little more before she asked. Of course this was going to happen when she asked Chris if she wants be shown around town. They don’t even know anything about each other. They might as well be complete strangers to each other. Great job Miku. Seriously great job asking someone you barely know if they want to be shown around town with no prompting at all. Maybe she was already shown around town, maybe she already had something planned. Maybe she just didn’t want to be shown around town. Maybe she’s just tired of putting up with someone like—.

_‘Stop,’_ Miku took a deep breath.

_‘Oh well might as well break the silence.’_

Miku gave a nervous laugh, “I mean, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to… It’s your decision after all.”

“No no no, I’ll go,” Chris said, “I was just shocked that you thought of me.”

_‘Oh thank goodness.’_

“What time do you leave?”

\-----

 

…Neither girl actually had _any_ idea where the park was. They were lost.

 

“I really should’ve asked where the park was before I left to go get you,” Miku gave a tired sigh.

“Yeah, you should’ve,” Chris crossed her arms, “No use dwelling on it though, what should we do now Miku?”

“I guess we should split up and try searching for the park,” Miku looked around, “And then once we find it, bring everyone back here and meet up here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Chris.

The two set off in opposite directions. Searching for the park. Miku passed several shops as she walked, looking for the park. She felt a tap on her shoulder. Miku turned around and saw a girl around her age. She had long blond hair which was tied in a long braid. She had teal eyes, and a mole beneath one of her eyes, and was wearing a lab coat.

“Are you lost?” the girl asked.

“...Do you know where the park is?” asked Miku.

“Yeah,” said the blond girl, “Follow me, I can show you where it is.”

Miku followed behind the girl in silence.   _One two three, one two three, one two,_ she counted the buildings she saw in sets of three as she walked.

The girl in front of her began talking, “You know the legend of King Arthur right?”

“You mean the legendary King of Britain?”

“Yes,” the blond girl nodded, “he wielded the sword Excalibur, and was the kind of king who always put his people and country first. He did many great deeds, and his people loved him, but his kingdom was destroyed when Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere's affair was exposed by Arthur’s illegitimate son, forcing Arthur to hunt down his best friend and execute his wife.”

“Oh, I think I remember the next part,” Miku said, “His son then stole the throne while he was hunting down Lancelot, and then he and his son had to face down, eventually resulting in him killing his son with his spear and then dying. While he was dying he asked one of his knights to throw his sword back into the lake right?”

“Oh so you know a lot about this, but you were wrong about one thing. It’s actually a misconception that he killed Mordred with Rhongomyniad, he actually used Excalibur itself to do it.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound right, but I read that book a long time ago so maybe you’re right.”

“Did you ever wonder why Arthur told Bedivere to throw his sword in the lake?”

“Huh?” Miku looked puzzled at the girl’s question. “No, never, why?”

“I think, that sword was poisoned by the king’s regrets, the thoughts of, ‘I never should’ve pulled this sword from its stone, then maybe my kingdom wouldn’t of fallen, this is the cause of the fall of my kingdom.’ turned the light of the blade into darkness. After all, in myths like these, abstract conceptions and thoughts can become reality, and have real power like Gleipnir, the ribbon that tied the beast Fenrir was made of them.”

“...Why are you telling me all this?”

“Oh, there’s the park,” the girl pointed in a direction.

The blond girl turned around, “I guess this is where we part. I’m Carol Malus Dienheim, maybe we’ll see each other again.”

She walked pass Miku and whispered, “Take care of that sword and take care while using it, or those regrets might just consume you, Kohinata-san.” And Miku heard the sound of shattering glass behind her.

“What do you—” She was gone.

 

Well.

 

That was…

 

Odd.

 

There was _no_ way she could have gotten out of Miku’s vision in that little amount of time. And how did she know her name?

_‘Aaah, whatever I have people to meet up with,’_ Miku looked over in the direction that Carol had pointed. There were many trees in the park, and there was a river running through the center, with a red bridge over it. Stones lined the edges of the river. She could see Chris, Kuriyo, Shiori and Yumi on the other side of the bridge, talking.

_‘Alright, here goes nothing,’_ She put up her hood, and walked into the park. _‘One two three, one two three, one two.’_

“Oh, there you are,” Chris looked at her.

“Hey,” Miku waved at them, “Sorry I’m late.”

“Alright, shall we get started with the tour?” asked Shiori.

“Can we go someplace to eat first, I’m _starving_ ,” said Yumi.

“That settles it then,” said Kuriyo, “We’re going to Flower first then.

“Flower, what’s that?” asked Chris.

“It’s a okonomiyaki shop. The old lady there makes the best okonomiyaki,” said Yumi.

“...What’s okonomiyaki?” asked Chris.

“Eh? You’ve never had okonomiyaki?” Miku looked at Chris with a puzzled expression.

Chris sighed, “Just tell me.”

“Um… It’s kinda like a pancake if you’ve had those before, except it has things like cabbage in it,” said Miku.

“Sounds… bad,” said Chris

“Hey, don’t knock it ‘till you try it,” said Kuriyo.

“C’mon you three me and Shiori are gonna leave you behind at this rate,” yelled Yumi.

\-----

“What is this, its so good!” Chris said between mouthfuls of okonomiyaki.

Kuriyo laughed, “I told you so!”

“Please refrain from talking with your mouth full, Yukine-san,” said Shiori, “The food will get everywhere.”

_‘What the hell was with that girl, Carol.’_ Miku thought.

“Hey.”

_‘What did she mean about taking care of the sword and that whole talk of regrets.’_

“Hey,” the voice was louder this time.

_‘And why was she talking about Excalibur, that has absolutely nothing—’_

“Hey!”

“What!?” Miku made an annoyed expression at the girl who was tapping her shoulder.

“Are you gonna eat that,” said Yumi, “It’s been sitting in front of you for a while, and you haven’t touched it.”

“I’ll have it if you don’t want it,” said Chris.

“No, I’ll eat it, I’ll eat it,” Miku picked up her fork, “I was just thinking.”

“Ooh, what were you thinking about?” Yumi asked.

“Do you know the legend of King Arthur?” Miku picked up her fork and ate some of her food. _‘Hey, this is really good.’_

Yumi’s eyes lit up, “Oh yeah I know a lot about it!”

“Really? Then can I ask you something?”

“Go right ahead!”

“Don’t take her answer to seriously,” Kuriyo whispered to Miku, “She probably only knows because of an anime.”

“Did King Arthur kill his son with his spear or his sword?”

“That’s easy, of course he killed him with Rhongomyniad,” said Yumi.

“She’s right,” said Shiori, “I just looked it up on my phone.”

“Thanks for answering the question,” said Miku.

The rest of the meal’s conversations were mostly idle chatter until Miku’s phone rang. Miku looked at the screen. It was an unknown number.

_Click._ “Who is this?”

“Come to headquarters, they told me they have something to tell you.” And she hung up.

...How did Tsubasa get her number. She certainly did not give her number out to anyone in the Second Division. Wait. _‘Right, Genjuro-san did say that one of their specialties was gathering information.’_

“Sorry,” Miku stood up, “I have to go somewhere.”

“But what about the tour?” asked Yumi.

“Show me around some other time, this is urgent… I think.”

And she went out the door.

\-----

“Now that you’re here, I’d first like to introduce you to the Second Division’s main scientist and the sole producer of all the Symphogear, Sa—”

“Sakurai Ryoko,” A tall brown-haired woman said, interrupting what Genjuro was saying, “It seems your parents never taught you that it’s rude to introduce someone else, Genjuro-kun.”

Miku heard an audible groan come another one of the members, a man with brown hair.

“Wait. That isn’t something rude,” Miku thought. Well thought aloud.

“Well anyway now that introductions are over,” The woman continued.

_‘Oh she’s just going to ignore me huh,’_ Miku thought, _‘and I didn’t actually tell her my name’_

“Here’s your gear back,” Ryoko tossed the pendant at Miku, “The analysis is complete.”

“Can you tell me about it?” Miku put the pendant around her neck, “Like, which relic it is.”

“Oh right!” Ryoko clapped excitedly, “That was actually the most interesting thing about your gear.”

“Really? Why?”

“Well let’s start with the _boring_ part of it,” Ryoko rolled her eyes when she said boring, “The identity of your relic is… The legendary sword… Excalibur!”

Miku put her hand on her chin and remembered the odd incident that happened earlier, _‘“Take care of that sword and take care while using it, or those regrets might just end up consuming you…” How did that girl know.’_

“Now here’s the interesting thing,” Ryoko said, interrupting Miku’s train of thought, “I’m the only person in the world capable of creating a Symphogear.”

“And I _know_ for a _fact_ that I have never created a Symphogear of Excalibur. The blade is impossible to find, so…” Ryoko put her hands on Miku’s shoulders. She suddenly seemed to tower over the girl, the shear intensity of her was making Miku frightened, “ _Where_ did _you_ get that relic?”

Those words sounded like a threat. Miku felt sweat roll off her face.

“No no no, I should be asking, _who gave you that pendant._ ”

“I found it on the ground,” Miku gritted her teeth, _‘It’s the truth.’_

“ _Really now_.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, you don’t seem to be lying, so I’ll let it slide,” said Ryoko, “I’ll be in the lab if anyone needs me. Bye bye.”

And she walked out of the room. Silence.

“Sorry about that,” said Genjuro, “I don’t know what’s gotten into her these past few days. She doesn’t normally act like that, she seems… Stressed? But I can’t figure out why.”

“So, let me get this straight,” said Miku, “The only known person who can create Symphogears didn’t make this one”

“Yeah, we were surprised when we saw the Aufwachen Wave Pattern and we didn’t have any data on it,” another voice said, Miku turned to see a man with brown hair on a computer, “I’m Fujitaka Sakuya by the way, and that’s…”

“Tomosato Aoi,” said the woman with dark blue hair on the other console, “Our jobs are to monitor the movement of Noise and Gear users.”

“What’s an… Auf-Auufwa—”

“Aufwachen Wave Pattern. It’s a signal that all Symphogears give off when they’re activated,” Aoi turned to her console. Miku could hear her fingers clack against the keyboard. Four images appeared on screen,  “Here’s what they look like.”

Each of the pictures had a different pattern on them, and each pattern was a different color. Purple, red, orange, and blue. Miku stared at the images for a few seconds before saying, “They kinda look like flowers.”

“...What do you mean?” asked Sakuya.

“Like the red one looks like a rose, and the purple looks kind of like a sunflower,” said Miku.

Sakuya laughed, “I never noticed!”

“Really.” Aoi turned to Sakuya, “I didn’t mention it because I thought it was obvious.”

“So… Why does each one look different?” Miku asked.

“Oh right, each Relic has its own unique signal,” said Sakuya, “The one you described as a sunflower is actually Excalibur. And the blue one over there is Tsubasa’s gear, Ame-no-habakiri.”

“What about the other two? Does anyone use them?”

“Those… Are Gungnir and Ichival, Odin’s spear and bow.” Genjuro’s face became downcast, “...Gungnir was the Gear used by the late Amou Kanade, and… Ichival was stolen.”

“Oh…” She shouldn’t have brought it up. It was _definitely_ a subject nobody in the room seemed to like even thinking about, judging by the oppressive silence that fell over the room. And the sudden stillness of all in the room.

After what seemed like hours, the door opened. Tsubasa, and a man in a suit with brown hair walked in.

“Oh good timing,” Genjuro said. And with that the silence disappeared almost as if it had never happened, “Could you train this girl how to use her Gear.”

“Sure,” Tsubasa put her bag down.

\-----

“HAAAA!” Miku swung her sword…

And hit absolutely nothing.

A sword hit her in the side. She flew through one of the simulated windows of the buildings. And fell on her side.

Miku stood up. And ran back at her opponent. Gripped her sword in both hands and… Was hit by Tsubasa’s sword, and again was knocked to the side.

The pattern continued, none of Miku’s attacks ever even making Tsubasa move anything more than her arms.

Miku fell to the ground panting.

“...What’s with you.” Tsubasa looked down at Miku, “This fighting, it’s almost as if you don’t take any of this seriously, you aren’t putting any effort into any of your attacks.”

Miku opened her mouth to contradict the girl. “And don’t you dare tell me I’m wrong, none of your attacks had any spirit in them. I’ve been fighting long enough to be able to tell that much.” Tsubasa said, cutting Miku off.

“It was the same in the forest, the only difference was you were actually trying to win there. It’s like you think this is a game.” Tsubasa sighed, “Whatever, I don’t want to teach someone like you. You’ll just end up failing when it’s most important. You’re nothing like Kanade, even at the end, she never did any of this spiritless fighting.”

Miku didn’t know how to respond. She lie there on the ground, motionless, as she heard Tsubasa slowly walk away.

\-----

“Tsubasa,” Genjuro looked at his niece with a stern expression on his face.

Tsubasa silently picked up her bag, and continued to walk toward the door.

“Tsubasa could you—”

“I am not going to teach that girl how to fight any longer,” Tsubasa didn’t look back at her uncle, “I am merely a sword, I have no need for disciples, and much less of a need of one who does not take any of this seriously.”

And she walked out of the door.

\-----

It was dusk when she got out of the headquarters. She didn’t go back to her dorm as soon as she got out of the base. She didn’t know why she didn’t, maybe something about what Tsubasa had said was bothering her. But she walked around in the park for a few minutes before she heard something. Singing.

She walked in the direction of where she heard it coming from. She eventually got close enough to be able to make out the words of the song.

“...As the stars, blow us a kiss, and our songs sleep in the night  
Where is the place that they, can say is their home?  
Where is the place that they, can call their home?  
The apple is on the ground falling beneath.  
The apple is in the sky soaring above.”

The singing stopped. “It’s beautiful,” Miku said quietly.

Miku heard a scream from the person who was just singing.

“W-When d-did you get here?” the girl nervously began playing with her auburn hair.

“O-oh sorry,” said Miku, “I got here a few minutes ago, I couldn’t help listening to that song, where did you learn it?”

“O-oh, i-it’s just something me and my big sister sang together all the time. I-I think its name is Apple.”

“It was really beautiful,” Miku said, “I haven’t heard anything quite like it before.”

“Hmmm, could you teach me it?” Miku asked.

“Hwah!” The girl’s eyes darted back and forth, “...Um… Uh…”

“Oh, sorry sorry, didn’t mean to spring it on you like that,” said Miku.

“N-no, it’s fine,” said the girl, “Just on one condition.”

“What?”

“C-could you tell me why you’re out here so late?” the auburn haired girl.

“O-oh…” Miku took a deep breath, “I was learning how to fight with someone… and well… let’s just say it didn’t go well, and she’s not going to teach me anymore, and she yelled at me a bit.”

“Oh, so you’re here to just calm down?”

“Y-yeah pretty much.?”

The girl clapped her hands together, “What kind of fighting were you learning?”

“O-oh. Sword fighting.”

“Oooh, sword fighting huh? I know a fair bit myself, would you like me to teach you?”

Miku looked down, “No, you’d just be disappointed in me if you did.”

“Oh, okay so, meet me here around this time tomorrow, I’ll teach you the song.”

“Alright it’s a deal.”

\-----

“What am I doing,” she muttered as she watched the black-haired girl leave, "That wasn't like me at all…"

The girl sighed as leaned back on the tree she was standing in front of.

“I shouldn’t of done that… I don’t need the distraction, I’m doing something important” She held up the red pendant around her neck, and stared at it, “Though I wasn’t getting any leads on that, so it might be a good change of pace…”

She sighed, “That look on that girl’s face… I know it all too well. She’s just like me isn’t she…”

 

“A person that was twisted by this godforsaken world.”

 

\-----

“I’m home,” Miku said opening the door of the dorm.

“Welcome back,” said Chris, “Where were you all day?”

“Had a meeting with those people from yesterday,” said Miku climbing up to the top bunk of their beds, “Then had some training, and then took a walk around the park for a bit.”

“Hmmmm,” Chris looked at the pendant, “What relic is that anyway? Did you find out?”

“Oh right,” Miku sat down on her bunk and held up her pendant, “It’s Excalibur, sword of King Arthur.”

“Haaaa, interesting,” said Chris lying down in her bed, “Well goodnight, see ya tomorrow.”

“...Yeah, sleep well.”

Miku closed her eyes. She let her mind wander to try to fall asleep. She mentally recalled the things that had happened within these past few days…

Wait.

Both Tsubasa and Kanade were gear users… That means…

_‘They must’ve at least tried to save all of those people at the concert that day… Which means that they must’ve tried to save Hibiki as well,’_ Miku smiled to herself, _‘I’m glad.’_

\-----

Chris couldn’t sleep. Her mind raced with so many thoughts that made it impossible.

She turned onto her side, _‘I wonder how Fen’s doing, I hope she’s okay… Or at least just not dead. Did she find someone to stay with?’_

Chris groaned and rolled over yet again.

“Can’t sleep?” she heard Miku say from the top bunk.

“...Yeah, sorry if I woke you,”  Chris turned on her side, “Just worried.”

“Hmmm? Worried about what?” Miku leaned her head off the side of the bed to look at Chris.

“...A friend,” Chris said quietly.

“Eh?” Miku’s jaw hung open, “You have friends?”

“Why the hell are you surprised about that!?” Chris yelled.

“Sorry,” Miku lied back down on her bed, “You didn’t seem like the type of person who had friends. What’s this friend like?”

“Fen is… well,” Chris sighed, “She’s reckless, stupidly optimistic, always thinking everything will turn out fine in the end, and very childish… but at times she’s scarily mature, she can think of the best solution in a tight situations, even if it’s one she doesn’t like. There’s also something about her that’s… well… magnetic, she gives off a kind of warmth that makes you want to be near her.”

Chris rolled over to her other side, “I just hope she hasn’t done anything reckless, or gotten herself into trouble… but this is Fenrir I’m talking about, that idiot’s probably already gotten herself into some trouble.”

“She sounds… nevermind.”

“Speaking of, do you have any friends?” asked Chris.

“...”

“...”

“...No,” Miku muttered, “...not anymore.”

“...Not… anymore?”

“I’m gonna go to sleep,” Miku said in a flat tone, “You should too.”

_‘I guess she doesn’t want to talk about it,’_ Chris thought, _‘But yeah… I should get sleep too.”_

Chris turned over one last time, _‘I wonder… has Fen remembered anything about her past yet?”_

And she fell into a deep sleep.

\-----

After that day the days blended together. It fell into a familiar routine for Miku. She would go to school, afterward she would sometimes hang out with Yumi, Kuriyo, and Shiroi, occasionally Chris would come along. On some days she would be called in to headquarters, usually to deal with Noise. Then after the day was over, she would usually go meet with that girl at dusk, to learn how to sing that song from her.

She hadn’t seen Carol again since that day. Still she wanted to ask that girl more questions about what she meant, about Excalibur, and all of what she said about it. And Tsubasa hadn’t even spoke to her since that day.

 

Before she knew it, a month had past.

 

Today, she had been called to headquarters for a meeting. Genjuro, Tsubasa, and Ryoko were already in the room when she ran in.

“ _Finally_ ,” Ryoko stood up, “Why did you take so long to come here?”

“...You called me out of the blue,” said Miku walking over to one of the seats and sitting down, “I was out in town when you called me. What do you need me for?”

“Alright, let’s get started,” Genjuro said as an image appeared on the screen, “Any opinions?”

“Could you tell me what it’s supposed to represent first?” asked Miku.

“Right, this is a map of the Noise outbreaks from the past month,” said Genjuro, “How much do you know about Noise Miku-kun?”

“Honestly not much, just that they’re emotionless, mechanical, they only go after humans, and that any human who is attacked is turned into carbon dust immediately.”

“That’s pretty decent,” said Ryoko, “I’ll fill you in on the rest. There are no patterns between Noise attacks, and they’re seen as a major threat to humanity. The UN’s been discussing Noise attacks for 13 years, but hadn’t done anything until now. There are also countless legends from all around the world. We suspect that the demons that appear in these legends are actually based on Noise.”

Ryoko crossed her arms, “Noise outbreaks are actually very rare, so this new outbreak is extraordinary no matter how you look at it. And that raises the question… Could there be someone behind these recent Noise outbreaks?”

“You mean… Someone can actually control those _things_?” asked Miku.

“Exactly,” said Tsubasa, “Judging from the fact that at the center of these attacks is Lydian Private Music Academy lies between all these outbreaks, the area right above us. They are likely targeting Sacrist D: Durandal.”

“Um… What’s Durandal?” asked Miku.

Aoi turned around from her console, looked at Miku and said, “Durandal is a mostly complete Relic, which we keep below us in a level called the Abyss. The Japanese government gave it to us so we could study it,”

“The fragments of Relics, such as Excalibur, or Ame-no-habakiri, need to be amplified and materialized as a Symphogear by the song of the bearer to be of any use,” said Sakuya, “Our research indicates that once materialized, complete Relics, such as the Nehushtan Armor and Durandal, can maintain 100% effectiveness, and be able to be used by anyone, not just the singer.”

“And that’s the Sakurai theory I created,” said Ryoko, “But to activate a complete Relic, we need the appropriate amount of Phonic Gain… As well as permission from the government.”

“Not to mention the USA is demanding we hand over Durandal, awakening it now would end up being a bad idea,” said Sakuya.

“The Americans have a hand in this as well?” asked Aoi.

“According to security reports, over the past month there have been tens of thousands of attempts to hack out systems. It’s not surprising we can’t work out the attacker. We can’t declare the Americans guilty without basis, but… we have logs.” said Genjuro.

“Commander Kazanari,” a man with brown hair in a suit walked up to Genjuro.

“I see, is it time already?” asked Genjuro.

“Tonight we have to attend the particulars of the album,” said the man.

“Eh?” Miku looked at the man with a confused expression.

“Oh right, I never introduced myself to you,” the man said, “My name’s Ogawa Shinji, to the public I’m the manager of the idol Kazanari Tsubasa.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to Miku.

“Keep it, I don’t need it.” Miku stated in a flat tone.

“Oh” said Shinji putting the card back in his pocket, “alright then.”

Shinji and Tsubasa walked out of the room.

Miku looked around, “I’ve been meaning to ask two things to you actually, well one to all of you, and one to Ryoko-san specifically.”

“Sure,” said Ryoko, “I’m all ears.”

“Could one person’s regrets cause a thing to be cursed?” asked Miku.

“Short answer, no, a single person’s regrets would not be enough to, hypothetically, curse a whole object, but,” said Ryoko, “Hypothetically, if enough people regret the same thing, that could hypothetically curse the whole object. At least in legends."

Ryoko put her hand on her chin, and hummed to herself thoughtfully.

“Hmmmm... However there is one way I think one person's conception could affect an object... and that person would have to be...” Ryoko seemed to tower over Miku again, “Ohohoho, it would have to be… A king.”

“Why a king?”

“Well… there is a conception that a king’s will, and his people’s will is the same, a king is all his people,” said Ryoko, “Though this is all just hypothetical, as if this could actually happen in reality… _What made you ask?_ ”

“No reason,” said Miku, “Here’s my other question, for all of you.”

Miku took a deep breath, “Kanade-san was a Gear user right? I want to know why and how she died, since all I heard was just that she was killed by Noise, but that can’t be right.”

The room went back to the eerie silence that it had last time Kanade had been mentioned. All the typing in the room stopped simultaneously. The silence felt just as heavy at that time as well. It felt like hours before Genjuro actually responded.

“...There is another function of the Symphogear that you don’t yet know about yet…” he was trembling.

“...The final song, that burns away life… The Superb Song.” Ryoko said in an eerie monotone, “It releases all the Symphogear’s limiters, and lets out one final attack. Releasing the limiters causes great damage to the user, especially if their sync rate is low…”

“I heard from Tsubasa,” said Genjuro, “That Kanade… She… She sang it all in hopes of protecting one… no, two girls. Those two… couldn’t be found after the incident was over… And since they couldn’t of just disappeared and gotten out of the concert hall in that amount of time… they’ve… been presumed dead.”

Miku’s heart throbbed, “So… that means… her death… it… accomplished nothing?”

Genjuro nodded.

“I’ll take my leave now,” said Ryoko, “I don’t like how this room feels right now.”

\-----

“Now, about the live concert scheduled at the end of the month,” Shinji said as he walked quickly, trying to keep up with Tsubasa’s pace as they walked down the hallway, “We’re running out of time. Please try to make room for some rehearsals. Next, the offer from the English record company.”

Tsubasa turned around angrily, “I think I _told you_ to refuse them!”

She turned back around and said, “I sing only to fight.”

“Are you upset Tsubasa-san?” Shinji asked in a concerned tone.

“I am not. A sword has no need for such emotions,” she said, and she continued walking.

“I don’t think you can sing without emotions…” said Shinji.

\-----

It had been a few hours since they had talked about Kanade’s death. Miku looked at her phone, “Oh sorry, I have to go… I’ve got to meet with someone soon.”

“Alright,” said Genjuro, “Have a safe tri—”

The alarm siren blared.

“This signal…” said Sakuya.

“It’s the Nehushtan Armor!” yelled Aoi, “And Noise signals are there as well!”

“Miku-kun!”

“Yes commander!?”

“Your friend will have to wait for the time being, right now we have a major problem on our hands!” Genjuro yelled, “The complete Relic that was stolen two years ago has reappeared, we need you to go to where it is. Now.”

“Right!” Miku said, as she ran out the door.

\-----

_“You’re in the location now, we had everyone evacuate the premises,”_ Miku heard Genjuro say through her earpiece, _“Wait for Tsubasa to get there before engaging the Nehushtan Armor, it must have a user, and I’d two Gear users fight a complete Relic, rather than just one.”_

“Roger,” She heard the revving of an engine as soon as she said it. A motorcycle came flying in from above her.

_Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri Tron_

A flash of light enveloped Tsubasa and her motorcycle, and her armor appeared. She sliced through several of the Noise using her blades, as she jumped off her motorcycle, letting it’s momentum carry it toward the figure in armor.

“No, no, no,” said the woman in the Nehushtan Armor, as she raised her hand to block the flying motorcycle.

**[Asgard]**

A purple barrier appeared out of her hand, “These aren’t the two I was meaning to draw out right now… Must’ve forgot to equip the signal represser on this armor… Or maybe it’s just too powerful for that to do anything.”

“...I don’t believe it…” Tsubasa said, looking at the woman, “That’s the real Nehushtan Armor…”

Tsubasa’s hands gripped her sword tightly as she raised it at the woman, “I’ll have you return that armor to me…” She said through gritted teeth.

  
“Sure,” said the blond woman, her mouth turning into a twisted grin, “See if you can, I needed some _stress relief.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, tell me what you thought about this one, I appreciate the feedback.
> 
> Also, the translated lyrics for Apple come from the comments on the page for Apple on the Symphogear Wiki.


	4. Declamando Reprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta read by Solopy567 and ZeroBlackDragon15

_‘The girl they brought with them was like a wounded beast.’_

_The room was completely engulfed in a cold darkness. A harsh light fell from the ceiling, cutting through the shadows, illuminating a girl bound to a chair._

_The girl struggled against her restraints. “LET ME GO, DAMN IT! LET ME GO!”_

_“She’s the girl from the report,” Genjuro said with a grave expression._

_“Amou Kanade, age fourteen,” said a man in a black suit, “Sole survivor of the relic-excavation team at Minakami Mountain, in Nagano Prefecture. The attack occurred on a weekend, so her family probably took her to the excavation site. That’s when the attack occurred.”_

_“_ _You people are fighting the Noise, right?” The girl said in an eerily calm voice._

_Tsubasa hid behind Genjuro’s back._

_“Give me a weapon, for god’s sake!” Kanade swung forward within her restraints, her chair shaking violently, “I’ll slaughter each and every one of them!”_

_“You’ve had it tough,” Genjuro walked slowly forward, his footsteps echoing throughout the dark room. He kneeled down in front of her. “But please, tell me what happened when the Noise attacked you. We will avenge your family.”_

_“Are you SHITTING ME, OLD MAN! I’m the ONLY ONE who can avenge them!” Kanade lunged forward against her restraints, “LET ME KILL THE NOISE!”_

_Genjuro locked eyes with her, “Even if it means plunging into the depths of hell?”_

_Kanade met his gaze, “I’d be happy to go to hell if it means I can kill them.”_

_Tsubasa stared at the girl with a puzzled expression. Genjuro slowly moved his arm, and patted the top of Kanade’s head before he pulled her into a tight embrace._

\-----

“Stay out of my way,” Tsubasa shoved Miku backwards, “This is my fight.”

“Oh, so bold are you?” The blond woman said, “I really _don’t_ care which of you fights me—”

The woman ducked beneath Tsubasa’s slash, “At least let me finish talking I—”

Tsubasa’s sword whistled as she swung in an arc. In response, the woman released a chain of her armor, wrapping it around the blade. Before Tsubasa could pull the sword back, the woman heaved, and with a single yank threw Tsubasa into the air.

Trying to take advantage of the opening, Miku ran at the woman and swung her sword, delivering a clumsy slash. The sword of light hummed as it flowed through the air, but the woman lazily caught the sword in her hand.

“Is that all?” She said mockingly, and kicked Miku, sending her flying straight into a tree.

Miku’s back slammed into the bark, and she let out a painful cry. Gritting her teeth, she pointed her sword at the woman, and a beam of light was fired at her opponent’s direction.

**[Phoenix Flare]**

It knocked the woman backwards. She heard the roar of thrusters from behind her. The woman turned around and held her hand out in front of her.

**[Asgard]**

Tsubasa’s sword hit the woman’s barrier, clanging against it as it bounced off harmlessly. The woman heard a noise from behind her. The woman jumped out of the way of a beam of light, disabling her barrier as she did. The beam hit Tsubasa.

“I told you to stay out of this!” Tsubasa’s blade shown with an azure light. She swung, a beam of light came out from it, and hit Miku in the stomach.

**[Blue Flash]**

“Kanade would’ve never messed up like that.”

Miku went flying into a tree. “What the hell! That was an accident!” she yelled as she stood up.

“If it’s a one on one you want,” The woman held the staff in her hands out toward where Miku had landed. “I’ll be happy to give it to you _Miss Sword._ ”

A beam of energy came from the staff. Noise appeared out from it. “That should be enough to keep you occupied.”

She turned back toward Tsubasa, “Now where were we.”

Tsubasa charged at the woman once again. She threw the sword she held at the woman. The woman activated her barrier, causing the blade to bounce away harmlessly..

“Is that all you’ve—”The woman said, only to be cut off by the impact of a fresh blade against her side, Tsubasa having summoned a second sword from storage.

Pressing her advantage and drawing a third blade, Tsubasa continued her assault, bringing her new weapon in a crossing slash from the other side, forcing her opponent to leap away. Not letting the opening go to waste she counter attacked, her chain wrapping around Tsubasa’s arm and pulling her in before she kicked Tsubasa in the stomach.

Even as she stumbled back from the impact, Tsubasa’s grin never wavered. Glancing in her opponent’s direction, a rain of energy swords fell from the sky.

**[One Thousand Tears]**

The woman recalled the chain and jumped back. Tsubasa activated her thrusters. She swung her sword at the woman, only for her to laugh.

“Do you _really_ think a power granted to you by chance will be enough to defeat _me?_ ” She kicked Tsubasa. Tsubasa crashed into the ground.

\-----

_‘The girl who wanted to fight the Noise attempted to use the third Relic, Gungnir, through difficult training and drug injections. The power she held did not come by accident, like it did for me. She gained it, singing through blood all for that reason.’_

_They fought side by side. Weapons gripped tightly in their hands. Tsubasa slashed apart the Noise with her sword._

_Kanade thrust her spear into the nearest Noise. A vortex of air came out of her spear and tore  the rest of the Noise apart._

_It was sunrise by the time they had finished clearing the rubble._

_“Are you okay,” Kanade said, pulling a person out of some debris._

_“Thank you,” He said as one of the members of the rescue team picked him up off the ground._

_“Eh?”_

_“Even buried under the rubble, we could hear your song, so we didn’t give up."_

_“Hmmm,” Kanade looked into the distance with an expression Tsubasa couldn’t figure out._

\-----

“HAAA!” Miku leapt at the woman. She flew through the air, wind bellowing in her ears, she swung her sword in an arc motion. The woman leapt backward in surprise, the beam of light singed her face.

“Oh, finished fighting them already?” The woman landed on the ground. She gripped the chain in her hand, raised her arm behind her head, and released it, sending it flying toward Miku.

Miku desperately shoved her hand out in front of her. A glowing golden barrier spread out in front of her extended hand.

**[Round Table]**

The chain was violently deflected off the barrier. Miku heard the sound of grass crunching behind her. She turned around to see Tsubasa pulling herself off the ground.

“Oh, you’re still awake. I—” Tsubasa jumped at Miku and hit her with the back of her blade.

Miku went flying through the air, the wind whistling in her ear. She crashed into the ground.

“What. The. _Hell._ Is wrong with you.” Miku staggered onto her feet and glared at Tsubasa.

“I told you to stay out of this fight,” Tsubasa threw a small knife into Miku’s shadow, “You’ll only get in the way.”

“Sorry, did I miss something? _I just protected you_.” Miku protested, her voice filled with disbelief as she struggled against the blade that held her in place. She found herself unable to budge, and she narrowed her eyes hatefully at the idol, a strong desire to strike out at her filling her to the brim.

“Hmph, I have to be protected by someone who will fail one day,” Tsubasa heard angry groan from Miku as she turned back toward the woman, “Where were we?”

“Are you sure about leaving your teammate like that?” The woman pointed her staff toward Miku. “She’s completely defenseless.”

“Teammate?” Tsubasa threw her head back and laughed, “She’s no teammate.”

Tsubasa sprinted towards the woman, she tightened her grip on her blade when she got close. She swung her blade in a horizontal arc at the woman. The woman ducked underneath the blade and shot a beam out of her staff. Noise appeared behind Tsubasa; she flipped around and with a single swing of her sword killed most of them immediately.

She turned back around and lunged toward the woman, thrusting her sword forward. The woman sidestepped the blade, and kicked the idol away. As Tsubasa flew through the air, the woman summoned aerial Noise to attack her.

Tsubasa activated her thrusters to steady herself in the air. One of the Noise dove at her, and she cut it apart. Her blade shone with a light, and she swung, a beam cutting through several of the Noise. She flipped around, activating her thrusters once more, and she rocketed toward the woman.

The woman activated her barrier and deflected Tsubasa’s swing. As soon as she landed, Tsubasa immediately jumped back into the air, soaring high above her. Locking her gaze on the woman she threw her sword towards her, and the woman smirked at the senseless act. The blade grew to an enormous size in the middle of its path. Tsubasa’s thrusters roared to life. She flew downward and planted her foot on the handle, descending together with her massive blade.

**[Heaven’s Wrath]**

The woman frantically jumped backward as the sword crashed into the ground, causing a crater to form where it landed. The woman stumbled as she fell on the uneven terrain. Tsubasa jumped  behind the woman, turned around, and charged at her. She swung her sword at the woman, clashing against the barrier. The woman threw her chain at Tsubasa, wrapping around Tsubasa’s torso. She dropped her staff, then released a second chain from her armor, grabbing it in her free hand and throwing it into the air. The chain formed a lasso in the sky, energy condensed within it. It shone brightly for a brief moment before a beam of light shot out of the gate the chain had created.

**[Refraction Gate]**

The leg compartment of Tsubasa’s gear opened. She caught the small knife that it released in her hand, and quickly flicked her wrist, throwing the knife towards the woman. Just as she did so, the beam struck her head on, and the chain around her was released right after. In pain from the blow, Tsubasa crumpled to the ground, striking it with a thud as her sword fell out of her hand.

\-----

_The two girls ran side by side. It was regular routine at this point, these daily exercises. But today… Today Kanade told Tsubasa something she would never forget._

_“Hey Tsubasa…” Kanade said between her deep breathes._

_“Hmmm?”_

_“Having people listen to your songs is a lot nicer than I thought, y’know?”_

_“What brought this on?” Tsubasa asked in a curious tone._

_“Nothing really,” She ran further ahead of Tsubasa, “It’s just…”_

_Kanade stopped running. She leaned over to catch her breath. Tsubasa stopped as well._

_“I want to keep singing with you forever,” and she smiled at Tsubasa._

\-----

“Are we done?” The woman picked up her staff, “I’m starting to get bored of fighting a _failure_ of a sword.”

Tsubasa started laughing from her place on the ground, “You’re right… I am a failure of a sword.”

She stabbed her blade into the ground and dragged herself onto her feet.

“I trained for years to become the ultimate sword… Only to survive on that day anyway.”

She pulled her sword out of the ground, “I’m taking the Nehushtan back from you, and restoring the honor I lost that day.” Tsubasa grinned as she pointed her sword at the woman.

“Big words from a girl who can barely hold a candle to me when I’m not even trying. See if you can—” The woman tried to lunge forward. Her body wouldn’t move. A small knife was protruding from her shadow. “When did you—”

“Oh. Ooooh,” The woman grinned in her realization, “So that’s your plan… You fully intend to carry out your duty don’t you?”

“Let’s finish this while the moon’s still out,” Tsubasa began walking toward the blond woman.

“What are you—”

“ **Be quiet.** ” Tsubasa pointed her sword at Miku, “ **Burn this sight into your memory.** ”

A strange thought came to her before she opened her mouth, _‘Let’s see how hungry this really makes me, Kanade.’_ She grinned at the thought.

\-----

_“Where are you Tsubasa.” Kanade’s voice was hoarse almost as if it stop at any time, “It’s so dark, I can’t see your face.”_

_Tsubasa cradled Kanade’s limp body in her arms. She could see the light slowly fading from her partner’s eyes. She felt her tears flow down her cheeks._

_“Kanade…”_

_“Sorry. Looks like I can’t sing with you anymore…” Kanade smiled weakly at Tsubasa._

_“No.” The tears wouldn’t stop, “No, no, no, no. I want to sing with you forever. Isn’t that… Isn’t that what we promised?”_

_“You’re such a crybaby, y’know that?”_

_“I… I don’t care!” Tsubasa’s voice was hoarse, “I just want to be with you forever!”_

_“Hey Tsubasa. Did you know… Singing your heart out… It really makes you hungry…”_

_Those were the last words the girl said, as she crumbled away. Her ashes flying into the distance._

_“Kanade!”_

\-----

“...Huh?” Miku stared as Tsubasa slowly walked toward the blond woman.

She heard Tsubasa start to sing.

_“_ _Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal.” The girl’s blue hair flowed in the night wind._

“Thi— This song…” Miku gripped her head in her hands.

A͡n̸̵̨̕̕ ͢͜͝͞i͘͟m҉̸͜͢a̴̢̛͘͝g̷͘e̕͜͠ ҉̴͢ǫ̵͞f͠ ̵̶͝͡a͜ ̡̛g̴̸̡i̴̷r̷̡̢͝l͜͞ ̸͜w̧̕͡i̴͜͢͠͞t͘͠h̶̵̛͢͝ ̵̷̛c̷͘͞r̢͘͝i̛̕͠m̶̧̢̢s҉͞o̴̸͠n҉̧̢҉ ҉̸̷̕͟ḩ̸̴͏̵a̷̡i͠ŗ̵ ̵̨o̸͡҉v̢̛e̛͢͜͞r̴͡l̵̨a̶̸i̴̧͟͜d ͏͞҉t̕͜͜͞ḩ̛͘͜e̴͞ ̴̸̶͢g̴̶̷͞i̵͘҉r̴̶͢l̴̵ ͞i̸̡n̵̛͞͠ ̷̡͘͘f̶̡͢͜͜r̸̸͘͜o҉͝n̶̸͢t̨͜҉ ̕͢͜҉҉o҉͞f̛͢͞͠ ̴͝ḩȩ̸̕r̶̡͞.͘ ͟͞͠O҉̨͠h̷͞ ̷̵̨ho̸͝w̶̛͘͡ ̢͘͏̴ḩ̶̴͞ȩ̴̨͠r͏͞ ̴͝҉m̴͘a̡͝n̶̶̨̡͡e̸̡͜ ͞͝͡͞o̧͏f҉͏̧͏̷ ̢̕͘͝͝h̕͜a̷͏i͟r̛ ̧͢͢͠͏f̢̕͘l̢o̷̴͘͏̶w͡͝e̸̡͜͟͏ḑ̶͞͝ ̶̛͟i̢̨͝ņ̴̷͠ ̵̧̡t͜͡͠h̛͠e̢̡ ̵l̸̨i̧͢g̢h̡̧͢͟t̴̡͏ ̷o̷̴͘͟͞f̶̸̛̛͢ ̧͜͞͏t̷͠h̸̵e̷̢ ̕͝s̸̶̢͜͠e̕͢͡t͝͏t̶i̸͏͘҉̢n̨g̸̶͘͠ ̨͜͠s̢͏̵̨u͜͠n̶͞.̴̢̨͠ ͞͝Ơ̸̴͞h҉͢ ̴̷̨͟h͘͝o̴͢͜͡w̵̨͝͝͞ ̶̷͢͢͟s͘͠͠͝h̛͟͠͞e̷̶͢҉ ̵͟h̴̷͘͢ȩ̵͝͞l̶͠͡͝ḑ̸̛͘ ̧̛͝h̴͟͞e҉҉̶̢r̴̨͞͝ ͏̨s̢͜p̵̡͘͠e̡̨͟͞a҉̡͜r҉ ̵̧͞͝t̡҉͜o͜҉w̕ą͢r̴̡̕ḑ͏̛ ̛͡͝t̢̛̕h͟҉̨͢ę͢ ̧s̵̡̕k̵y̢̧̛͢,̢̕͢ ̴͢a̸̕͏s͏̛ ̢̨͟s̶̕͡͞h̷͢͜͏e̷͘͢ ҉̴̶͘s̴͘͢͟ą̕̕n̸͞g̶͘.̨̨͝ ̧̡͞͡T̴͘͏̶͝h͜e͏̸̛ ̴͟ļ͜͡a̷̧͘͢͢s̨̧͢t̴̕͢ ̢͘͢͠s̵̨o͏͢͡n̛͜g̸ ̢͏s̨̡̢͜ḩ̢͠e̵̴͢ ̵̸̧w̷̶͠o̡͘u̵l͢͠͝d̢͢͜ ̴̕̕͟͞e͟v͏̵̶͜͡e̸̛͝͞r̷̸͟͞ ̧͜s̶͞i͏̧ņ̴g̷̴͜͠͠.̶̵̴ ͡҉̛͠I̧͠t҉͏ ̸̕͟w̡̧̢̛ą̷͘s̕͟͞ ̶͟͠t̸͟͠h̸̡͞͠e̷̛͝҉ ̡v̶e͘͟͏r͏̴̴̕͢y̛͘ ̢̕͜s̶̛͞͠ą̛m͏̢͘e̕͜͠͡ ̴̵̸̢̕şo̴҉̛n̛g̛͢ ̷̸̧̕͠t͡͠͠h̡̛͜ą̧̛͘t̨͟͏͏̕ ̵̧̡͏͠t̨̨̛͝h̵̴̡̧͟e͜͝͝ ̶̴͝g̶̸͜͠į̛͡r̡͘͜l̡̛̕ ̨͢i̵̸͜͟n̵̡͜ ̢͏͟f̸̛ŗ̧͟ơ̧ņ͝͡͏t̨͢҉ ̶̨҉o̷̷͝f͞ ̷̨͘͢͜ḩ͠ę̛r̨͡ ̵̛͘w̷̡̕͝͠a̛҉͏̶̛ş̷̵ ̷͡s҉͞i͏̴n͘͟g̸̨̢͠į͏n̛͟͠g͜͠ ̵̕͢͜n̛͝҉̨o̧͘͏͘w̵̢͘.͟҉

_“Emustolronzen fine el baral zizzl,” The girl raised her sword to the sky._

\-----

O̵̢̨̢h̴͘͠ ̨̛͠h̶̨̢͝͡o̴̕͏̨̧w̶͡ ̧̨͝͞d̶̢̢͝͏ę̸̡͡s͝p͡ȩ̵r͠͠a͘͞͠t̶̴e͢͠͠ ̴͟͜w҉҉͘͜͞e̶̢͜r̡͘͞e͞͠ ͞͏̕҉ḩ̶̧͝e̵̢̢͠r͝҉̢ ̸̨̢͟͜p̛̕͢a͏̡̛͡r̸͢͝t҉͞n̶̢͝҉e҉͢҉̶ŗ̵̶̛͠s͏̵ ̸҉̸͝p͞͏͢͝l҉̡͠e̢̛͜͝a̡̧s̶̡ ̸͡f͏̨̧̛̕o̧r̷͘͡ ̶͞h̸̵̛͢ȩ͞͏͞r͏͡ ̢͘͟҉͠t̨̢̢͘o̕͠ ҉̸͘͟s͏͡͝t͏͢͠͝o̸p̢͢ ̧͜s҉i̵̡͟͢͝n̕͘͞ģ̴̵̕͡i̕͟͡͠n̶͘̕͟ģ̴̴͟͟,̴̷̨͢ ̵͟͟͡҉t̸̴̢͢͡h̷҉̵̛͜e͢͝͝͠ ̸͠s̶͏o̡͏̷̨n̛͢g̶͟͡.҉̧̨͟ ͘͢Ţ̷̢̡͟h̕͡͝e͘͞ ̶̵͢͡s̷͞͞o̷̡͠n̛g̸̶̵̕ ̛͝͡ţ̵̢͢͝h̷̨a̷͞͝͠t̛ ̴̨̡a҉̢t̢͘e̷̢̕͟ ̴̡̨͞h̷̴͠e̢̢͢͢r̸ ̛͜͠l̵͘i̢͜f̶̧͢͠e̵̴͞ ͏͠͠a͠w̵̴̨͜͝ą͜͞y̕͡͡͠͠.͞͝͡

\-----

W̨͘͜͜h͢͝e͠҉͟r̡͜e̷.̸̡.̡͠.̶͘͢͞ ̴̡̢̕͡W̸̶h͢͢͜ę̸͘͜͟r҉̸ȩ͜͝ ͜͏̨h͝͏a҉d̸̨ ͜s҉̶̕͢ḩ̴̡̛͡e̴͜ ̡͘͘͟h̷̶e̵̷̢̕͡a̢r̨͟͞d̴̸̕ ̧͟t̨̕͞h͢͡i͘̕͢͡͠s͏̵͘ ̡̕͟s̶̨̕o̵̕͡͞n̸͘͘g̡̨ ͘҉b̶̴͡e҉͠҉f͘͠o̕͟͞r͏e҉̡͜͢

Miku gasped for air. Her heart pounded in her chest. Sweat rolled down her body. Her head felt like it was splitting in two.

_“Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal,” The girl’s voice could be heard clear through the park._

\-----

A̧̨͠n̷d҉̴͟ ͞͠h҉̸̧̡e̸̕̕͡r̡͡ ̴̡v̨͜ơ̷i̴̷̢͢c̢̨e̶͞ ̧̕͢҉̷r̢̡͘͠͡e҉̷s͟͏o̵̕͢n͠͞a͢͠t̨̛e̢̡͜͡d͜ ͠͝c̷l̶̛̛e̷a̷͘r̵̨͡͞͠ ҉̸̡͢͝t̕҉ḩ͝͞r̛͝o̶̶͜u͜҉҉g̴̛h̷̵̶͟o̡̕͜͡ư̵̴t͠ ̧̛͟t̴͡h̵̨̨̛ę̸ ̡҉͝s͘t̸͝͏a͢͡҉̸̧d̵̢̡i̸̧͡u͏͠m̵҉̢̢.̨͞͏

\-----

_“Emustolronzen fine el zizzl,” Tsubasa grabbed the woman by the shoulders. And she smiled. A shockwave radiated out from where she was standing._

And Tsubasa collapsed onto the ground. Blood pooling around where she had been standing.

\-----

Ą̢͢͝ ̴̷̸s̴͝͝h҉͢͟o͏c̴͢͠k̷҉̴̶̸w̡̛͜͡a͜v̶̢̛e̡͡͏ ̴͝ŗ͝a̸̛͘͘ḑ̴i̛̛ą̶̴̴͟t̷̵̸͟ȩ̛d͡͠͏̴ ͡t͏̧̡͢h̷͞͡͠r͟o̕͢͠u̴҉g̶̴̸̢̛h͘͟͞o̢͡u̡̨͝t̴̛͝͠͠ ̕̕͟͟͝t̛̕h͠҉̸͜͝e̵͠͠ ̢͢͢s̴̨͜͜t̨͟͡a͝͡d̨̡̢į̕͘͜u̸m̧̧͝͞.͡͏ ̨̧͞A̸l҉̸̴͞l̴͢͟͟ ͏̛͞҉̷t̶̢̨̕͜h͜͠e͏̨ ̵̧͟N̷͏͝o̕͞i̷̡̡̕͜s̢͡͝e̸̡̕͢͢ ̧̛t͜u̸r̵̛͢n̕e͞͏ḑ̶̵ ̢͟͡t̨͜͝o̕͟ ͞d̢̛͜͟u̡s͢͜͏̛t͘͘͝.̶̷̡͠ ̸̢͠͡T͠͠h̷̡̛ȩ̴̷̛͢ ̸̷̡̧͝r̨͡ȩ̶d̵̨͘͟ ̡͘͞͡h̨͝a̵͝į̛r̸̵̛͘e̶͡͝͠d̴͜͝͝͏ ̛҉ģ̵̸͘i̸̛͟r҉̨͞͝ļ̵͘ ͠͞c̷̢͟͠͡o̶̸̧̕l̷l̨̡̛͘͡a̵̛҉͏p͢͠͡s̶̡̢̛͟e̷͞҉͝d̛ ̶͏̷̧o̶̡̨͡͡n͏̧̕̕͢t̸̷͝ǫ̶͡ ̶͝͞t̶̡͘͠h̸̴̕͠e̕͡ ̕g̸̶̢͢r̨͞o͢͟͡u͜͝҉ņ̶͠d̡̕.̶̨͢

\-----

The woman was left lying on the ground. Miku couldn’t believe what she heard come out of the woman’s mouth. _Laughter._

“I can’t believe it,” She was laughing like she had just seen the most entertaining thing she had seen the past week. Laughing at Tsubasa’s song. Laughing at her sacrifice, “She actually did it. That’s… so hilarious. Did she _actually_ think that would work on a _complete relic_? Even if you release a Symphogear’s limiter, a mere fragment cannot compare to the power of the whole thing.”

“You there,” She pointed at Miku without turning to look at her, “I’ll let you live, I’ve gotten my fair share of _entertainment_ from tonight. I’ll be taking my leave now.”

She turned around, “Just stay there and I won’t hurt you for now.”

\-----

T҉h͏̶͘͘e͏͡ ̷͟w̡ơ̴̧͘͞m͟͞a̢n̢͘͜͝͞ ̵҉̷͡p͠i͘͟c͡͡͠͡k̴̕e҉̴d̵̡͡͝ ̕͢͟u̧p̢̛͜ ̢̢̢͝t҉̶̨h̷̢͟͞͝e̶̵̶͡ ̡̕͟b̷̨͟l̵͝o̴͏̶͝o͡҉҉d̷̴͘͠y̷̡̕ ̨̕͠g̸҉i̧̡̕͠r̴l̸̴̨͜ ̢̧͜͞t̸̵͟͞h̨͝a̸͜͟͜t̷̛ ̸̷̛͜h̕͟a̧͠d̸̡ ̢̛̕f͏̨̧al͘͏̴҉l̶en ̶̨͡o̢͡f̷͢҉̷̷f̸̷͟ ͏M͢҉̛i̵̡̡̕k̸̶̨͡u̴̕͜͡'̵̕͝s̸̡ ̴̶̨̕͢b͜͠͏͘a͟͠͡c̶͘͜͡k̷͘͢.͢͏͘̕

͜͠͏̧"͏̨͘͜͝I̢͜'̨͡l̢̕͜͡l̨͝ ͏̸̢̕b̢͟͢͟e̵̢̡͡ ̵̢͠͞t̵̡̕a̸̶̛k̵̢̡i̸̡͟n̨̨̛͢g̵̶̴̢͠ ̷̷̨͘͝m̨͜͟͢y͜ ̸͝l̡͘e̢a̵̶v̡̛͏e̵̢ ̷̷̢̡n͟͟ǫ̶̕w͏̛,̶͘"҉̷̡͜ ̷̡̢S̕̕h̴̷̵̢e̶̷͜ ͘͠҉͘͜t̴͞҉̨u̷̢r̢̛n̴̨e̸͘͡d͏̸̷̨͠ ̷̵̨a̢͜҉̸͢r͢҉̴̷͘o͏u̵̧̨͡n̷͢d̨,̷͘͘͞ ̴͡҉̵̵"̷͏̢͟S̶̨̡t̡̧͘̕a̶҉y̧͜͢ ̛͝͠͏̶ţ̶͘̕͞h̷̶̶̛̛e̸̢̛͢͠r̢̧͟͢e͜͡͡ ̷̷͟a̕͘͟n͜d͏̷̡͟—̷̢͘͢͠

\-----

No.

No. _No. NO!_ **_NO! NO—_ **

**_-͖͗̽̓̊̌ͮ-͇̤̦̜̚-̬̱̟̲̰̓ͮ̐ͦ̓ͪ-̙̩͓͚͔̔ͣ̒͊-̭̣̣̂̋̍̈ͮ̊-̤̟̤̣̦͚̣͒̏̃̉ͥͧ̽̆-͕̱̩̟̱̳̻̽̀ͮ̓-͈̻̫̭͔̌͑͌-̰̦̪̮̫̱́-̤̭͈̬̤͎̱̲͓̄̇̊̈́͛̀ͫͤ-͈̥͓̻͎ͦ-̫͔͕͈͓̖͉̺̅͊̔_ **

**_̟̺̺̟̣͆ͬ͂ͥ̔̈́̽̃̉N̦̔ͨ͆̑õ̲̗̠̺̲̯̤̦̣ͤ̃̓̑̈ͤ͐t͚̮̿ͪ́͂̎͌ ͓̤̲͑̚a̼̰ͭ̔̀͂̚̚g̰͚͚͎̦̘̙ͯ͛ͫ͂a̭̩̱͎̟͚̖̟̜̽̔̂͒ͫi̺̟̤̤͗͗͐͑ͥ̍n͙̪̙̳̱̰̪͔͉̈́ͪ_ **

**_͔̘̠̝̹͈̜͓͙ͨ̊-̣͈̦̞͖ͥͥ̽̿͑-̗̲͒̔̏̓̍ͦ̈́͌-̮͓̳̫̗̮ͨͧͮ̄-͎̲̰̲̮̖͎̩̼ͪͨ-̘̜̞̰̹̣ͣ͗́͊͐ͨ-̩͉͇̤͉̰͗ͯ̌̅̈-̟̯̙̣ͨ͂̆͑̚-̝̔̇̑ͬͣ͌-̤̜̪͕͙͚͍̾ͧͮ̑͑̉̇-̱̏̓ͤ-͙͖͇͙̫̦̞̬̓ͫ-͈͚̗ͨ_ **

Something snapped.

As if her mind suddenly switched gears on its own, her consciousness vanished.

Immediately afterwards, darkness began to seep out from the pendant hanging above her heart. It flowed over her frame so quickly the woman could barely respond to it, and she watched with morbid fascination as the liquid-like darkness covered Miku from head to toe, her entire form losing cohesion. Crimson lights appeared from within the liquid as it hardened, glowing a sickly vermillion in the moonlight. Her sword, previously a shining white and purple, flickered once before the same red glow slithered over it like tendrils, tainting the blade completely.

Crimson energy pooled in her left hand and manifested itself as another sword. The blood red light shone ominously in the moonlight, and Miku charged towards the woman at speeds previously not possible for her to accomplish. Coming upon her in less than a second, she slashed at the woman with incredible force.

The woman’s golden eyes widened. As she tried to sidestep the sudden assault, she suddenly found her path blocked by a black barrier that had sprouted out of nowhere.

Unable to respond in time, the blades of scarlet light sliced into the woman’s right arm, bypassing her relic’s protection and cutting deeply into her flesh. She seethed from the pain, and jumped back to gain some distance, grasping at her injured arm.

“This power… is it… _Berserk?_ ” She said in disbelief, taking another look at the girl clad in darkness, “No… It’s different… Berserk isn’t like this… She’s not completely enveloped in darkness, and she’s still using her Armed Gears… Then what could…”

Miku continued her onslaught of attacks. The woman threw her chain at Miku, wrapping around the girl. She pulled back the chain and threw the girl toward a nearby tree. Miku crashed into the tree, splitting it in half.

“I need to get out of here _now,_ ” The woman said to herself, “So I can study this ph—”

The woman heard a noise from behind her. She quickly flipped around and activated her barrier. The two beams of crimson pierced through her barrier, and she quickly ducked benath them.

**[Camelot’s Fall]**

“Tch,” the woman threw her chain at Miku, only for the girl to summon her barrier deflecting it. Miku jumped into the air and aimed one sword behind her. A blast of light shot out from it, using the momentum from the blast to carry her through the air toward the woman. In response, she quickly sidestepped the girl, causing Miku to fly past her straight into the ground. Cracks formed in the ground as she skidded to a halt.

The woman threw her chain at where the girl landed. Miku quickly jumped out of the way and shot another blast at her. The impact of the blast knocked her opponent backwards through the air, prompting Miku to chase after her. Skidding across the ground and steadying herself, the woman held up her staff and fired a blast of energy in Miku’s path. In turn, Miku cut through the Noise that emerged effortlessly.

Miku was halfway to the woman when she threw one of her chains in the air. It formed a lasso in the sky as energy condensed within it, heralding a rain of debris shards that fell out from within it toward her.

**[Rapture]**

Miku swung one of her swords in an arc above her as she vaporized the debris, continuing her charge at the woman. She got close enough to the woman to strike, when she suddenly stepped to the side. Miku quickly pivoted toward the woman and slashed at her, the red light from her blade leaving a streak in the air.

The woman jumped backward to dodge Miku’s strike, “Ugh. You’re so tenacious.” Gripping her chain tightly, she raised it above her head and threw it at Miku. Without any hesitation she knocked it away with her sword, dashing towards her.

The woman quickly pulled up her arms and closed her eyes, bracing for the strike, and… Nothing happened. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw the girl laying face down on the ground in front of her. Her armor shimmered and disappeared, leaving her in the clothes she had been wearing before. She was… defenseless.

The woman sighed at the sight, “She must’ve passed out from the strain of that power she was using…” The woman smiled and brought up her chain, intent on thrusting it through the unconscious girl.

As she was about to strike the final blow with her chains, the woman stopped herself and shook her head. “No, I shouldn’t kill her yet… I need more research on that phenomenon first…”

The woman heard the sounds of cars in the distance. She threw a bottle at the ground, and it shattered. A magenta symbol appeared beneath her and she disappeared.

\-----

T҉͜͢͠h̸̵e͡ ̛͘͢s̨҉c̸͠r҉͏̵e͏̕am̧͘͟͟s͏̕ ̡̨͢e̡̧͘c͘h̷͠o͘͞ę̸͡͏d̛͝ ̶̴͘͠ţ̢͡͝h̷̕҉̶͠r̴̸̸͠o͜u̕͢͠҉g̢h͝ǫ̴u̸̕t̴̷͘͢ ̛t̡̧̕͢͟h͏̕͟e̷̡͢ ͞͞s̸͢t̴̨̧͠a͏̨͞d̵̵̛͡i̧͢u̸̧͘̕m̵̧͢ ̛͘͝a͘͝͡͝҉s̵̢ ̶̢̨t͢ḩ̷̢e͢҉̛͡y͏̕ ̴͞r̷͜͡a̷̷͠n̸̛,̡̨͘͟ ̨̧̡h͘͏͢͟͜a̛͜͡҉͘n̵̶͟͟d̶̵s̶̕ ҉̢̛g̸͠r͘͜i͞͡p̷̧͘͞p̷͢҉̵ȩ̷̵͟d͢҉ ̸̡̧̨t̶̶͢͜͞i̢̢̧g̨h̸t̸̷̶͢͟l҉y̨ ̧͞͡tơ̡̢̡̢g̡̨̛̛͘e̶t̸̛͠h̴̡̡͟ȩ͜҉̛͠r͢͏͞.̵̵͟ ̷̡̡̢̛S̵̡ḩ̵̕e̢̡͟͞ ̡͡͡h̨͢͡e̵̡a̵̧̢r͘͢͟҉d̡͜͏̴ ̢͢͠͏͜t̛҉̸̛͜h͜҉͟e͟͏ ͢͏͟҉s̨͟͞o͘͢u̧͡͝͏ņ̵̨͞d̷s̷̴̷ ̷̛͝͡o̴͡f̷̵̨̛͜ ̸̵̢͝f̷̛͟i͏̶̶̷g̴͝͏ḩ̵̛͜ţ̷̷͟i̛͜͠͝n̵̡͞g̴͏ ̧͝͏̸į̷̷̡̛n̛ ̷͞t̶̵͢͝͞h̵e͜҉ ̴͘͝d̕͏̡i͏̡s̢͞͏͘͞t̷҉ą̡ņ̷c̡͘͢e̡҉̶,̢ ̶̷̸̡̕N̛͘͘͟͞o̵̕͜i̷̢͜҉s̸͜͢e̢ ̛͜͡w̵͢͜͢e̛r̷̷͜͝e̡̡̢̛ ͘͏͞b̢͞e̵͢i͞҉n͠͡g̸҉̛͘ ̨̕c̶̢͟u̶͜t̴͏̧ ͢͏͠a̸̵p͜a̶҉r̨͘͜ţ̷̸ ̸̶͘͠b̷y̶̡ ͏͘͠͡͞ţ̛͘̕h̛ȩ̷ ̴̷͘i̸͘҉d̛͟͝͡ǫ͘͘͝l̴s̶͢͢'͡͡ ̛͢b̵̷̢̛͝l͜a̷̛͟d̵̨͡e͏̛.̵̢͘͠ ̷̴T̴̡͜h̛͜͞e҉̴̴͏ ̶̨̕͠ţ̴w̡o̶̡ ̨͜͡͞g̵̨͟į͟҉r̷̕͢͠͡l̢͘͜͝͠s̷̛͏͏ ͘͡r̴̕͟͢a̴̢͜n҉͟ ̶̨̡t̴̴҉͟h̕͢͠r̵̕͟o̵͞u̧͜͠g͢h̡͜ ̸̧̧t̶̨͢͜h͘ę͝ ̴̡r͏o̴̡͝w̷͝s̨҉ o͘͜f͢͞ ̛s͢͞҉͢e͜͢͢a̶̢̡͘t͏̴̢̧s̛̕͘,̵̡͢ ͢͟͝u͏̢͘ņ͞t̸̷̴̸i̵͟l̡͡ ̸͜͠t̴̡҉h̵͠e̢͞ ̵̕r̸̢̡ơ̷̷w̨͜ ͞҉̧̕t̸͘̕͢h̴҉e̢y̴̛ ̴̛w̸͢e҉r̢e̕͜͞ ̴̷̸o̕҉n̷̴ ̵͡͠s̢͠u̶͡҉̸͟d̛͏d̨̨͟͠e͜͝n̴̸͞l͞͏̡y͘͟͜͡ ̴̕͟c̨̧͟͟͠o̧̕l̛͝l̸̵͢a͘͞p͏s̵͟ȩ̵͟͞d̸̵̶.͏

͏͏̢͜T̡̛͠h̵͏e̡ ̷̡͠t̷̵͡҉w҉̸̸̨͟ǫ̡͜ ̢̕͢w̛͢͢͝͠e̢̕͟͜r͏̵e̛͏̨̛͘ ̛͡҉̴m̛i̡͡r̴͞a̢͞͞c̷͢͝u̴̷̧̕l͡͝͝o͘͘͡͡u͜͟͞s̷̵̡̨l̛̕͜y̴̴ ̢̛u̴n͠͡ş͟͝ç̴a̸̛t̸̨̧͝ḩ͡e̵̴̕͜͢d̴͝͡.͘͡ ̕͞U̶͟͢͞͝n͟͏̛̕͢f͢҉҉o̷҉r̸҉̕͡͠t̛͟u͢͝n̛͘a̴̵̵͘t̡̕͏͜e̢͞l̸̡y̛ ͘͘t͏͝͞h̶͟e͜i̷̷͡r̸҉͝ ̡͜͜l̴̵̕u̵͏̢҉c̡k҉̕ ̷͘͜w̴̕o͜҉͟͠ų̛͟͠l̶̶̢͜͞d̢͝n҉̛'͏҉̨͘t̶̶̢ ̧̧͢l͏̕҉a͏̴s͜͞͏t̨̕͟.̶̡̕͜ ̸̢̢͞N̨̕͠o̴̕i̶̴͘s͝͝e̸̢͢͝͠ ͡s͘͝e̛҉̢͠ȩ̨͏҉m̷̴̛͜e̴̷̴̛͜d̵̷̢̡ ̨̡t̴̴̕͡o҉̸̡ ̨͟h̶̡̧̢͢e̢͞a̴̸̡r̴͘ ̷̢̧t̨͘͡h̵e͜͞i̷͝r̵̨͜͡ ̸͢͝f̕͟a͟͡l̕͟͠͞l̛҉̴̕͠ ̸͟͞ą̷̛n̶͞d̡̛͡ ̸͏b͜͜e̢͏ģ̶̕a͡͠n̡̕ ̨̛͢t̶̢̡̕o̢͝ ͏͘͠ą̢͘d͏͢͡v̨̕͢a̸̸͡ņ͢͝c͢ę͏̴ ͏ţ҉̶̴͞o̶̢̢̢͡w̶̢͡͡a̸͞r͟͏ḑ͏̛ ̨͘͡҉̕t͏̶h͢e͏̧͡m̕͡.҉̸̧̡ ̸̵͡T̴̷̵͏h̸̨ȩ̢̕ ͝͏͘r̨͠͠҉ę̨̛d͡͏͘-̛̛h̵a̕i̡͘͠r̴͡e̷̴̢̕͞d̸͘ ̸̷͝i̴̶̕ḑ̷̵͏ǫ̷̡͞͡l̴̴͠͠͡ ͏̶͠c̸͠u̡͘ţ̕͘ ̴̧̕͏t͏͡h͡r̷̸̸̛o̶̕u̶̢͠͞͝ģ̸̵͝h̵͏̷ ͢͞s̴͝ǫ̷͝m̡͡͏̢e͠͝ ̸̶̢͘ơ̶̧f̸̶̧͝ ̧t̸̵̸̡h̵̵̸͜͞e͏̡͟͟ ̢̕͡͞͞N̢o͏̷̢i̸̛͠҉s̵͞ȩ̕͟ ̶͜͢th̕a̡͢t͝҉ ̢͏̛h̴̨͘҉a̷̸̛͜͝d̸̨̛͡҉ ̡̕͟͝s̵͠͞t̡͜a͝͝r̨t̸̛͘͡e̡͟͡d̶̨͡ ̡t̷̨͘͠o̴͞ ͡a̶͢͠p̧͞p̕͡͠͏r̶̢͟o̢͡͞҉ą̢̨͞͝ç̛̛͢h̵̵̕̕ ̷̧̧͠t̴̕͢h̶e̛m̸͏ ̨̧̨w͜͠i̷҉̧̛t̴h̵̕͢͠ ҉̛h̡̕͢e̶̵̡͜ŗ̸̨̕͠ ͢s̵̡͢͜͠p̵̧̧e͝a̛͟͢͜͠ŗ҉.̶̵̧͘

̴̶̶"̷̶̛̕͢R̶̛̕͜U̶̡͢͡N͏̴!҉͟͞"̡̢͘ ̸͜҉̧S̴͜͠h̴̢̧ȩ̸͘͝ ̵̨̧̛͘s̢͝h̸̷̡̧o͝͠͡ư̢̢͝t̴͏ȩ̴͠d̨ ̸͘a̧͘t͟͠ ̷̸̡̨̧t̶̢͘͟͞h̵̨̕͏e̶̸͝m̢͞.̸̢͟͜

̵̡̡̢T̸͜͡h҉e̶̡͟ ̷̷͞͝͞b̸l̷̢̕͜a͜c̡͜k̸̡͝-̸̴͡͞h̸̛͜a̢͢͡͞͝i̛͡r̢̛e͏͜d̢ ̕͟͠g̡͡͠i͡r̷ļ̷͠͡ ͢͠͝g̢͜r͜͞į͜p̷̵p͞e̡͟d̵̶̷ ̵̨̛͝҉h̷̵̛͢͞e͏͏̵̶r̸̛͡͞ ̷̨̛f̧̨̡r̛͡i̴͘e͏̧n̶͟d̸'̛͟s̴̸̨ ̵͜͞h̷̢͠a͘͝n̵̸͝d̷̕͢͞͏ ̧̡͠͞ţ̷̨͠i̧͢͡͞g̕͞͝h̕҉҉t҉l͟͠y̨͘̕͏ ̵̶̢͢a̸̧͘͘͡n҉̸͘͞͡d̕͜͝ ̢̧s̴͠t̷̢͠a̢̛͢ŗ̷̛͢t̴͘e̸҉̷̛d̶̴ ̡͘r̡̡͝u̕͢҉͢n̸̛͞n̵͘i̧̨̛n̶͠g̶̸͟҉.҉̕͟ ̷̨F̷҉o̸͝҉͟u̸̧̢̕͝r̶̵̨͜ ̵̧b̶̨̛͜͡i̶̛g͞҉̢ ̶̡͜͠s̢̡p̶i̶̡̛t̡͟͡͝t͡e̶̕̕͜͠r͜͝ ̸̢N̷͟͜͡o͞͏͘i̶̸͏͠s̨͝e̛҉̡͜ ̶̢͟͜ņ͘ơ̵t̨͠͏i͏̧͢͢c̵̷͟͠e͏̨̧d̶̵̕͜͠ ҉͞͏t͢͠h̵̛͢͟͡e͏̶m̛͘͞ ̷͠a̡͘͢͠n̨̢d͜͞͝ ̵͞b̶̵e̛̛͡͝ga͏̡̡͝n҉͞ ͘͢͟a̡̡͘͡d̵͢͢͠v̶͞a̧̧̛͠n͘͝c̢͟͜͜i̸͟n̛͏̕͡ģ̡̕͜.͘͘͢͝͞ ̧͟T̵̨̧̧͘h͡͏̕͟e̢͞͝ ͘͡r̵̕e̶҉d̨͟-̷h͏̸͜͞͡a̷͞i̧͜͏̕r̡̧͟͜e̕͝͝d̴̷̢̕͝ ̴̶̡͠i̧̢͞d̢͞o̡͞l̸̛ ̧͏̵̡̢j҉͞u̴͘m̵̧̧͟p̡e̶̵͢͞d̷̶͢͢ ̴̨̕͝i̕͝͝n̸̡͘͟ ̨͜t̡h̨̡̕͡ȩ͜ ̢͘͢w̡͘a̢̢͢y͏̛͞ ͟a̡̢͢n͡҉̸͡d̨͘͝ ͝͞͝҉s̨͘͟͡p̷͞u̸n͏̢̛ ̸̕͏҉h̢͏̵e̶҉̛͘r̷̵̨͝ ̢͟s̶҉p̵͝͠e͢͟͠a̡͏̸̕r̷̸̵͢͡ ̷͏̨t̢̨͡͝o̵̢̨͝ ̷̴̢͠b͏̧̡l̢͟o̶͠c͝͡k͢͞ ̧̕͠͠t̸̶h͠ę̵͞ ̴͢a̕͡͞t̨͡͡͏t̵̢̧͢ą͜͡c͢҉̶̧̛k̢͘͟͠.̧͢ ̷̨J͏͜͡u̡͢s͢͞t̵̡̧̕͜ ̡̡͡͝͞w̛͠͡h̸̶̴͞ȩ̡̛͡n҉ ҉̴͘i͘͝͝t̵̴͘͟ ̧s̵̡͟e҉͠͡e̶͢m̷̵e͢͠d̛͢҉̵̷ ͡͝l͟͜͝͠i͟͢͢͠k̵̡̛e͘̕͜ ̡͝t̷̨͠͠h͘͞e̵̢y̵͝ ̶͘͜͟w҉͘e̡͞҉r̴͡e͠͡ ̵̸̧͟s҉̡̛a̶̢͘͝f̨͜͞ę̶͘,͢͡͞ ̨̨͝t҉̸͡͝͡ḩ̕͜͡ę̛͞ ̶̧̕i͘͜d̸̴̶͠o͏̨͟l'̢s̸̸̨̕͜ ̴̵̧͟s̨͝pę̸̴̧̛a͜r̕҉̷̵̛ ͢s҉̸̛͜h̢͘ą̵̨҉t̵̨͡t̵̨̡͠ȩ̷̡r͟e̕͜d͡͝.̴̸̷̢

̨͟͝T҉̡͜͟h̡͏̷̨e̶̴̴͜ ͘͢b̸̢̛ļ̧͢҉a̶҉̕͜c͏̷͜͡k̢̨͜͝-̶͢͝h̡͢a҉̛͝i̶͢ŗ̸҉͘e̡̕͡d̡ ̷͠g҉͡i̕͞͏͏r̶̷̶͢l̴̢͢͢͞ ͡͝w̢͡ą̕͝s̢͏̨͟ ̸̛͏s͏̵h̶̡̧͜͟o̷͜͞v҉̴̛e͞͏̧d͜͢͜͠ ̴̧̛͢t͏̶͟o̴͝ ̵̵̴t͟͟h͘͘͡e̵̸̡ g͏̨̨͢r̵҉ǫ̕͟ư̶͢͏͞n̛͘͝d̡̧͘͢ ͘͡b̷̢y̨͢ ̵̛h̨͜e̴̷̷͘͢r̢̕ ̷̛͜͟͠f̕͏͝r̡͝i҉̵̵̕ę̶̧͘n̕͜d̴͏͢,̧̡̡͡͡ ̨̛͢͟͠a̵̶n̸̵͠d̴̢͞ ͠҉͞͡t̸̡h҉̵͠e̴͘̕͞ ͡d̡͟͏ȩ̷͏̷b̧r̵͜͞i͘͏̶s͏ ̕͟͠p̨̢̕͢i͢͡͞e̕҉̶r̴͢͝҉̡c҉͡҉e͟͡d̛͠ ̶̴̢͝h̸e͏͜r̵͟ ̷̴̡f͞͞r̴̡̛i̛e̛n̸̵͘͝d͏̢'̴s͠ ͘͜͡͡b͠o͏̢͞͡ḑ̴҉̷̛y̸͢͝͡͏.̧͡ ̶̸Ḩ͠e͘͜͞͡r̛ ̶̵͜͟͠f̸̧r̢i̶e̵͜͡n̶̵͢͞͝d̴̶͘͞'̵͡s҉̵ ͠͏̧̨b҉̶̷̧l͏͟ơ̡̕͜o̵̧͠d̴͡͡҉ ̸͝s̷̴͘͘͜p̵̧͠l̡͜͞͝a̢͞t͏͟͡ţ̷͜҉e̶͞͏d͏͜ ̧̛̕o̡̨ņ͘͝ ͜͟ḩ̵̢͜͠e̸̷̷͞͝r͏͘ ̢͘͢͟͡f̷͜a̵̧c̨̡҉͘͝ę̵̶.͠͏̢

̴̸̵͟͝P͘͝L̴͘̕E̸̵͠͞A̕̕͞͞S̸̢͟͢E̵̶̢͝ ̵̢͜͠͞Ş̴T̷̢͘͟͟Ơ̵̛P͘͏͡

̴̡͞͝S̶̷͞Ţ͘͞͝O̕͝P̷̵̛̕͠ ̷͝S͝͡T̨͘O͞҉̸̸P̛̕͠ ͘͡S̶͜͞T͏̷͜͟͡O̷̡͡P̴̷

\-----

Miku jolted awake, she sat up suddenly in the bed of the medical room. Looking around, she realized the room was empty. She gripped her head in her hands. It hurt. Everything hurt. She tried to remember what she had been doing. She had been… fighting, and then she blacked out… Why was she in the medical room?

The door opened, and Genjuro walked in, with a grave expression on his face.

“Oh,” His face suddenly brightened, “You’re awake, how are you feeling?”

“Everything hurts,” Miku groaned, “What happened? I think, I blacked out after Tsubasa…”

Right. Tsubasa sang, and she sang the song that burned away life… The song that she had only learned about a mere few hours before… The same song Kanade sung in a futile attempt to save two lives.

In his silence, Genjuro grimaced at the mention of his niece’s name. “Don’t worry, she’s in intensive care right now, she _should_ be able to recover…”

Miku looked down. Noticing this, Genjuro patted her head, “This isn’t your fault… She chose to sing on her own.”

“...I’m so useless,” Miku murmured.

Genjuro shifted in his seat, a serious look on his face. “Two years ago,” he whispered, looked into the distance. “when Kanade died, Tsubasa was left on her own, and in her grief she decided. She decided that she would become an emotionless sword, with no need for anyone else. And a few hours ago, she sang fully expecting to die to fulfill her duty.”

Miku slammed her arm hard down on the mattress, “I’m so damn useless!”

“I told you not beat yourself up about it,” Genjuro said, patting her on the back.

“It’s my fault that she had to sing!” Miku pulled her hands over her face, “If I had been stronger, she wouldn’t have felt the need to put her life on the line that way!”

Miku got off the bed in a sudden movement.

“Wait.” Genjuro grabbed her by the arm, “You need rest too.”

“I’m not the one who almost died a few hours ago,” Miku tried to pull her arm out of the man’s grip.

“You also exhausted yourself,” Genjuro said, “You shouldn’t be over-exerting yourself right now.”

“Are you sure about that? I blacked out after she sang the Superb song, I’m not _that_ exhausted,” Miku pulled her arm out of Genjuro’s grip and began walking toward the door.

“...You blacked out right before you were going to kill that woman.”

Miku turned around and faced Genjuro, “...what do you mean?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I wouldn’t be asking if I remembered,” Miku said, irritated.

“We’re analyzing the footage right now… But we need Ryoko-kun’s help if we’re to make anything of it.” Genjuro said, “We’ll show it to you after we’ve finished analyzing and have come to a conclusion about this. For now you need rest.”

Exasperated, she shot Genjuro one last, tired look.“I’m going to rest in my dorm,” Miku turned around and walked out the door.

\-----

The door creaked as Miku opened it.

“I’m back,” she whispered as she tried not to wake Chris.

“Where were you?” Chris looked up from where she was sitting. On the table in front of her was a spread of cards. She set down the card she was holding.

Miku walked over to the bed and climbed up to her bunk.

“Hey, I asked you a question.” Chris narrowed her eyes.

“Tired…” Miku muttered as she closed her eyes.

Chris sighed, _‘One of these days I’m gonna get a straight answer from her.’_ She suddenly didn’t feel like playing cards anymore. She put the cards lying on the table back into a stack, and she lied down in her bed.

\-----

Chris heard crying from the top bunk.

“...You seem upset about something, what happened?"

...No response. Of course there wasn’t, Miku never responded to her. And it was starting to get on her nerves.

“Look. If you just keep avoiding telling people what’s wrong, you’re never gonna get anyone to help.”

“I’m useless aren’t I…” Miku muttered, “and I almost got someone else killed because of it…”

Chris heard a loud slam from above her, “I should just die!”

“Don’t you dare give up on life!” Chris covered her mouth. She just blurted them out without thinking.

“...Huh?” Miku said, puzzled, “Where…”

“Sorry, I just blurted it out… It’s something I was told once,” Chris turned around, “I just thought you might need to hear it.”

“Don’t give up on life, huh?” Miku turned over, sniffling as she wiped her tears. “I’ll think about it.”

\-----

The following day felt like a haze. As she sat in class, she found herself thinking about something as she listened. The teacher was talking about something she couldn’t quite focus on, yet she wrote down what she heard anyway.

Before she knew it, it was lunchtime. She sat down in her usual seat. Yumi, Shiori, and Kuriyo were talking about something, but she couldn’t focus on it. She couldn’t seem to focus on anything.

Miku put her papers into her bag, and she walked out of the room. She walked for what felt like hours throughout the town to get to the park.

As she prepared to enter, she spotted caution tape around the entrances to the park.

Of course there was, why wouldn’t have caution tape around there? That’s where they were fighting last night.Why the hell did she think it would be open?

_‘I guess I won’t be able to meet with that girl today,’_ Miku sighed and began quickly walking away from the park, _‘Guess, she’ll have to wait anothe—’_

She slammed into someone. They stumbled backward and feel down.

“Ow…” the auburn haired girl rubbed her back, she looked up and saw Miku, “Oh! There you are!”

The girl jumped back onto her feet, “I was wondering if you’d show up! The park’s closed so I wasn’t sure where you’d be.”

Miku stared at the girl in silence. The girl frowned and suddenly grabbed her hand.

“Wha—” The girl dragged Miku along behind her, “W-where are we going!?”

“Somewhere quiet.”

\-----

Miku sat at a table in the girl’s apartment, “Why did you—”

“What flavor pudding do you want?” The girl yelled from the kitchen.

“Um…” Miku fidgeted with her hands, “I’m fine with any… Why did—”

“Got it, wait right there.” The girl walked back into the room holding two cups of pudding. She set one down on her side of the table and slide the other one over to Miku.

“So… You wanna talk about anything?” The girl sounded concerned.

Miku opened the pudding cup in front of her, “Why did you bring me here?”

“It was a simple reason really…” The girl made a downcast, serious expression, “You were making this face, and I wanted to know what happened.”

Miku looked down at her food, “...You wou—”

“Wouldn’t understand? How can you be so sure about that?” Miku shuddered at the girl’s shift in voice.

“...Have you ever had someone almost _die_ because of your weakness?” Miku’s words were laced with frustration.

The air in the room suddenly became suffocatingly heavy, “I’ve had someone _actually die_ because of my uselessness.”

Miku dropped her spoon and stared at the girl in shock.

“So don’t you _dare_ sa—” The girl stopped, and looked to the side, “Sorry, that was out of place… I shouldn’t have said that.”

The girl relaxed, “So this person… Why did they almost die?”

Miku took a deep breath, “You mentioned knowing sword fighting earlier, right?”

“I don’t see how this—”

“She almost died because I wasn’t able to fight alongside her as well as I should’ve,” Miku looked at the girl in the eye, “Teach me.”

The girl set her spoon on the table, “I don’t really think—”

“Teach me.”

The girl looked at Miku directly in the eyes, “Are you sure about this? My techniques can barely be c—”

“I don’t care. Teach me.” Miku stared right into the girl’s teal eyes.

The girl got up and walked over to a closet, opening the door. She brought out two small knifelike wooden swords, as well as a bokken.

“Catch,” She threw the bokken at Miku. Miku tried to catch it, but it slipped out of her hands. She picked it up and readied herself.

“I want to see how much you know first, so…” The girl leaned forward, and charged at Miku.

Miku jumped to the side, the girl slammed her foot down and pivoted to the side, her knife coming dangerously close to hitting Miku. The girl suddenly jumped forward, knocking some books she had placed on the ground backward, Miku sidestepped the lunge, only for the girl to turn around midair, her feet landed flat on the wall, and she jumped forward. Her knife hit Miku in the stomach sending the girl flying backward into the wall behind her.

“Hmmm, okay,” The girl clapped her hands together,  “I think I know your current skill now… You’re a complete beginner aren’t you?” The girl said smiling.

She extended her hand to Miku, and pulled the girl up, “I guess I should actually tell you my name before we go on, I’m Serena.”

“Kohinata Miku. So, what do I need to improve on, Serena-chan?” Miku said to the shorter girl.

“...First thing’s first, how old are you?” Serena looked at Miku pointedly as she asked.

“Oh, I’m 15, why?”

“...I thought so,” Serena puffed out her cheeks, “I’m 17, so don’t call me -chan.”

“...You’re _older_!?” Miku said in disbelief, “But you’re so short?”

“Don’t call me short _ever_ again, or else I won’t teach you.”

“Fine, fine. So Serena- _san,_ what do I need to improve on first?”

“Everything.” Serena stated plainly, “Meet me in the forest near the hill tomorrow, that’s where your first lesson will be.”

\-----

Miku felt the cool air blow against her skin as she walked through the forest. The sunlight cut through the branches above her.

Miku looked between the branches, _‘She told me to meet her in the forest, but—’_

A knife flew by her head. Miku turned around, and sidestepped Serena’s dive. Serena’s feet hit the ground as she pivoted, thrusting her second knife backwards and stopping inches before hitting Miku.

“First lesson,” Serena pulled her knife back, “When you’re fighting someone, always be on guard. A second of lost concentration will spell you’re downfall.”

Serena threw the bokken at Miku. Miku caught it in her hands. Not wasting a second, Serena charged at Miku again, the grass crunching beneath her feet. Miku swung her sword at Serena causing the girl to duck beneath it. Serena delivered a hard blow to Miku’s stomach, sending her flying backward into a tree.

As she watched Miku pull herself up to her feet, Serena said, “The first thing you need to improve is how you swing.” Serena effortlessly sidestepped Miku’s sudden charge, “As it stands now, the amount of time it takes for your muscles to wind up is too long, and your movements are predictable.

Serena brought the hilt of her wooden knife down on Miku’s back, knocking the girl to the ground, “If you kept fighting as is, you’ll end up like that whenever you fight.”

Miku gripped her sword tightly in her hand.

\-----

“You’ve made good progress these past few days,” Serena said as she slashed at Miku, Miku dodging the strike and countering with her own. Serena caught the blade with her two knives, “Your wind-ups are less wide, and you’ve gotten a lot less predictable. You’ve also learned how to dodge and counter. It’s time for your second lesson.”

Serena disengaged from Miku, ran up a tree and jumped at her.

“ **Movement.** ”

Miku sidestepped Serena’s dive only for the girl to reach her arm out and use it to pivot on the ground and throw herself back at Miku.

“Movement alongside utilizing your surroundings is essential for combat,” Miku ducked beneath Serena’s slash as she countered Serena with a slash to the side, knocking her toward a tree. Serena turned around midair, her feet landing flat on the tree, jumping back toward Miku. “It allows you to get an edge on your opponent, as well as making you more unpredictable.”

Miku blocked Serena’s attack as her sensei kept lecturing. “It also allows for more quick recovery in the middle of a fight.” Serena hit Miku with the knife in her other hand. “Try doing what I did.”, she said as Miku went flying through the air. Miku turned around in the air and her back slammed into the tree.

Serena sighed and walked over to where Miku landed, “You have a long way to go…”

\-----

Chris sighed as she walked through the forest. She felt a cold breeze blow against her skin.

_‘Why do I have to bring her homework to her,’_ Chris thought, _‘She’s the one who skipped class…’_

Chris stopped, the sound of hollow wood crashing against itself filling her ears, _‘Okay, what the hell is going on over there.’_

She walked toward where she heard the noise. She peeked out from the tree she was behind and saw…

_‘Shit.’_ Chris quickly ducked behind the tree, _‘Why’s she here with Miku.’_

The leaves beneath Chris’s feet made a loud crunching noise when she ducked.

“Hey Miku, let’s stop for a bit,” Serena said as she turned toward the tree Chris was hiding behind.

“Huh? Why Serena-san?”

“I need to check something out.” Serena began walking toward the tree Chris was behind.

Chris’s breathing became erratic, as she heard Serena’s footfall getting louder. _‘Shit, Shit, Shit, Shi—’_

“You!” Serena grabbed onto Chris’s arm, dragged her backward onto the ground, and began frantically looking around, “Where’s the other one!?”

“Wait,” Miku said as she looked at Chris, then back at Serena. “You two know each other?”

“You could say that…” Chris nervously laughed, “Cou-Could you let go please?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Miku. You know these two?” Serena tightened her grip.

“Two?” Miku asked, “No, I only know Chris. How do you know her?”

“...Yeah, Fen’s not here right now…” Chris looked to the side, “We split up when we ran away…”

“You two… ran?” Serena looked at Chris skeptically, “And then you split up?”

“For the record, it wasn’t my idea to split up, it was Fenrir’s.” Chris sighed, “And now I’m roommates with Miku… I only came here to deliver her class work she got from SKIPPING CLASS.”

“Is this true Miku?”

“Yeah, we’re roommates…” Miku walked over to Serena’s side. “So can you tell me how you know each other?”

“No.” The two girls said in sync.

“...Alright then…” Miku sat down, “So Serena-san, are we still taking a break?”

“Yeah,” Serena let go of Chris’s arm and sat on the ground, “You want pudding?”

\-----

“So Fenrir’s not with you at all, huh?” Serena put another spoonful of pudding in her mouth.

“...Yeah,” Chris fell backward onto the ground, “We planned to run away together, but it was more advantageous to split up like she said.”

“Alright, just didn’t expect either of you to actually run away.”

“Honestly it was her idea… She’s hopelessly optimistic.”

“Well that makes things much easier for me then.”

...Miku ate her pudding in silence. She didn’t understand what they were talking about at all. She sighed and rolled onto her back.

“Hey Chris…” Miku turned to her side, “A week ago… You told me not to give up on life… Where did you hear that before?”

“Huh?” Chris looked at Miku, “Why are you asking this now?”

“It… sounded familiar, so I wanted to know…” Miku felt her eyes start to water and she didn’t know why.

Chris took a deep breath, “I heard it from Fen…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, comment what you think and review.


	5. Adagio Crescendo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter took a bit to write and I'm sorry about that, but hopefully all of you enjoy it. This chapter I'm trying something new, there are two points that I recommend you play some songs in, which I hope will enhance the experience for all of you. In other new, please leave comments and feedback for me, as well as your thoughts on the chapter, they really are nice to see.
> 
> Now without further adieu, here's the chapter.

The blonde woman slammed her phone shut. She tightly gripped her hand into a fist angrily and slammed it against the table. The hollow sound of the wood rattled throughout the mansion.

“Stupid Americans,” she muttered as she angrily opened a laptop on the table. Her fingers clacking against the keyboard as she typed in her password. She pulled a video up on her laptop and pressed play.

She skipped to the moment right before the girl she had been fighting became enveloped in darkness. “Hm…” She grunted in contemplation as she rewatched the clip another time. She listened to the anguished scream the girl let out, watching the darkness seep out of the pendant and cover her body.

“...This power…” she tapped her fingers against the wooden table, “Where did it come from…”

She closed her eyes, _‘It’s not berserk that’s for sure… But what could it…’_ Her eyes shot open in sudden realization, “A conceptual weapon?”

“Hmmmm,” She put her hand on her chin, “It could be… But what would cause it…”

The woman threw her head back and laughed, “Ohhhh, so that’s why she asked me that… _The King’s Regrets_ , huh?”

“But still…” she leaned backward, sitting upright in her chair, “The tenacity that girl showed… I did think she looked familiar… So _that’s_ where I’ve seen _her_ before…”

\-----

Miku stepped backward dodging Serena’s strike, she quickly slashed horizontally with her sword, knocking Serena into the air. Serena turned around as she flew through the air, planted her feet on a tree and jumped back at Miku, causing leaves to fall off the branches. Miku sidestepped the dive, Serena put her arms out in front of her and landed in a handstand before she rotated her body violently toward Miku, kicking Miku hard in the side.

Miku flew toward a tree, rotating in midair. The bark cracked on impact, and using the tree as a foothold, she jumped back at Serena and swung. Serena stepped backward, caught the sword between her two knives, and disarmed Miku, sending the sword flying into the air.

Taking advantage of the opening she had created, Serena dashed toward Miku, and thrust the knife in her left arm forward. Miku haphazardly sidestepped to the left, causing Serena’s attack to whiff. Miku quickly gripped Serena’s arm tightly, using both of her hands to do so.

Miku grit her teeth, heaving Serena over her head with gruelling effort. With a loud shout, she slammed Serena onto the ground, cracks forming at the point of impact.

Miku collapsed onto the ground panting, “So? How was it?” She asked as she looked at Serena.

“Ow…” Serena winced in pain as she sat up, “You’ve really improved…” Serena rubbed her back, “Ow… I think maybe we should stop training for today… Wanna get something to eat?”

“Sure,” Miku smiled, “What are w—” She felt a sudden vibration from within her pocket.

Miku picked up her phone, “Hello?”

“ _Ah Miku-kun,_ ” Genjuro said, “ _We need you to come to headquarters right now.”_

“Huh? Why?”

“ _First, Ryoko-kun’s finished her analysis of the data, and second, there’s something important we need to do.”_

“Alright,” Miku tiredly sighed as she hung up. She looked at Serena apologetically, “Sorry Serena, something came up… Could we postpone this to a later date?”

Serena looked down with a disappointed expression on her face, “Yeah… maybe later then.”

Miku hung her head. There was a downcast look on her face as she slowly began to walk away.

Serena watched the girl as she faded into the distance. She sat down, leaning against a tree, and reached her hand into her pocket. She pulled out a broken red pendant, and looked at it with a melancholic expression on her face.

“Haaa,” Serena held the pendant toward the sky and ran her fingers across its cracks, “I know, I know, I shouldn’t be wasting time like this… But…”

Serena sighed as she put the pendant back in her pocket, “What am I gonna do Sis…”

\-----

“Oh you’re _finally_ here,” Ryoko said leaning back on the keyboard, “I was wondering if you’d show up.”

“Ryoko-san, could you please refrain from leaning on the keyboards,” Shinji said with a pained expression on his face, “You might hit something and delete our data.”

“Oh don’t be like that _Shinji-kun,_ ” Ryoko said, sliding her hand across the keyboard.

Miku sighed in exasperation as she sat down in the couch, “So? You’ve finished analyzing the footage right?”

“Jeez, you’re no fun at all are you,” Ryoko’s expression turned serious and she typed on the keyboard, “Yeah, I’ve determined what may have caused that _state_.”

Still images from that night appeared on the screen. Miku’s eyes widened in shock, “What… Happened…?”

“That… Is what happened to _you_.” Ryoko stated as she pointed to the girl clad in darkness.

“That’s… Me?” Miku couldn’t stop herself from shaking at the thought.

Ryoko turned around, “Of course it is. Now I have several theories for what could’ve happened. First theory… This is the theoretical berserk mode that exists within the Symphogear system.”

“Berserk mode?”

“It’s a theory I’ve had for the Symphogear system ever since I designed it… But there’s one problem with the theory that this is berserk mode. I was looking over the data from that time and…”

Ryoko typed something into the computer. An image that looked like the Aufwachen Wave pattern of Excalibur appeared on screen. Crimson lines weaved throughout the flower creating a jagged cross-like pattern overlaying the sunflower’s petals. Straight red lines shot out from the center of the cross, forming a thin X shape next to the cross.

“That’s what Excalibur’s Aufwachen Wave pattern changed into.” said Ryoko, “And an Aufwachen pattern is supposed to stay the same even while in berserk mode, so…”

Ryoko pushed up her glasses, light reflected off her glasses obscuring her eyes, “Here is my second theory… Do you remember what you asked me a few weeks back… about how a person’s perception of an object could affect its properties.”

Ryoko grinned, “Now I know some people here would probably love to debate me on this?” She said to no one in particular, “That it couldn’t possibly be the second theory…”

“But, I am saying just that.” Ryoko she leaned forward, the light leaving her glasses, and she narrowed her eyes at Miku, “This might be that king’s regrets manifesting as some sort of power in this girl’s gear.”

Ryoko scanned the area as if she were looking to see if anyone had any objections. The bridge was mostly silent, Ryoko looked a little disappointed at that.

“Now what I’m going to say may sound a bit unrelated to the conversation at had,” Ryoko said, she twirled around the disappointment immediately leaving her face, “But does anyone here know what the flower meaning of Rue means?”

Aoi opened her mouth as if she wanted to answer, but Ryoko immediately continued talking.

“It means regret, sorrow, and repentance.” Ryoko said, her smug grin growing even wider, and she began to walk towards Miku. “And guess what flower that Aufwachen looks like now…” she hummed in contemplation and looked around the room thoughtfully. “Miku-chan.”

“It looks like a rue flower doesn’t it,” Miku deadpanned.

“Now, that seems a little _suspicious_ wouldn’t you say?” Ryoko’s voice was filled with confidence as she said it, “Combined with what I said about how the patterns aren’t supposed to change when berserk… It should become quite clear now shouldn’t it?”

Ryoko patted Sakuya on the top of his head and turned back around to face the rest of the bridge.

“That’s right, there’s enough evidence to say that this could possibly be the king’s regrets manifesting as a power,” Ryoko said in a satisfied tone.

“Now may I ask you a question, Miku-chan?” Ryoko turned to face Miku.

Ryoko continued, not waiting on Miku’s answer, “I would like to know what prompted you to ask the question about whether or not conceptions can affect reality a month ago… It seemed like a weird thing to ask out of nowhere And there was no way you would have known something like this would happen.”

“Two months ago…” Miku paused nervously, as Ryoko was standing right in front of her, her figure felt oppressive as she towered over Miku, “There was a girl who told me about how she thought the king’s regrets in Excalibur corrupted it… It kept bothering me, so I asked you about it…” Miku trailed off when Ryoko put her hands on her shoulders.

“And what was her name?” Ryoko asked as she began tightening her grip. A burning pain spread through Miku’s shoulders as Ryoko’s nails dug into her skin.

“She said her name was Carol.” Miku grit her teeth as the pain increased, “Carol Malus Dienheim.”

Ryoko’s grip on her shoulders loosened, and Miku couldn’t read the expression on her face, “...I see…” Ryoko let go of her shoulders.

There was a awkward moment of silence that followed, as Miku and Ryoko just stared into each other's eyes uncomfortably.

“Now onto the second reason we called you here,” Genjuro cut through the silence, his expression becoming grave, “Hiroki Taketsugu, the Minister of Defense, has been assassinated.”

“Huh?” Miku’s eyes widened in surprise, “Wait wait wait, he’s been killed?”

“Multiple ‘revolutionary’ groups have assumed responsibility the murder, and we’ve gotten classified orders from the government to move Durandal to a place called the Ruins of Memory,” said Genjuro.

He paused, taking a deep breath. He turned to look at Miku.

“That woman who is controlling the Noise seems to be after Durandal, judging from the Noise attacks from these past two months, so it can be assumed that she is somehow involved in this,” Genjuro crossed his arms, “And you’re the only active Symphogear user we have, so we need your help.”

“Alright then,” Miku stood up, “When are we going?”

“In thirty minutes, be on standby until then.”

\-----

Miku paced from one end of the hallway to the other restlessly. It was a strange feeling, the one filling her. She couldn’t quite place what it was. Maybe it was excitement. Excitement that she might actually be able to beat that woman if she showed up.

Or it might have been fear. Fear that all that training she’d done didn’t matter. Fear that she’d fail again. Fear that she wouldn’t be able to…

Whatever. In any case, it made sitting around for thirty minutes feel like an impossible task, so she continued to pace from side to side.

Miku stopped pacing, Shinji’s voice suddenly interrupting her thoughts. “Ah, Miku-san.”

“What do you want?” Miku said in a slightly annoyed tone as she turned around to face the brown haired man.

“I wanted to tell you that Tsubasa-san’s life is no longer in danger,” Shinji put his hand to his chin thoughtfully, “And I was wondering something…”

Miku stared at Shinji with a puzzled expression, “What do you need to ask me for?”

“I was wondering… Are you a fan of Tsubasa-san’s music?”

“Eh?” Miku stared at Shinji for a moment, before looking down and saying, “...Not anymore…”

“Really? What made you—”

He was cut off when the intercom suddenly roared to life, “ _All personnel must move to their designated areas now._ ”

“Looks like this conversation will have to wait,” Shinji said, “You’ll be going in the same car as Ryoko-san.”

And they walked off in opposite directions.

\-----

Miku looked out of the window of Ryoko’s car as they drove. They were surrounded by four black cars. Miku looked into the back of the car, there lay a metal case containing Durandal.

“So this ‘Carol’ person you mentioned… What is the relationship between you two?” Ryoko asked.

“Huh?” Miku turned around and stared questioningly at Ryoko, “I really don’t know anything about her… She just showed up one day, told me something about Excalibur and left.”

“Really now… Nothing else?”

Miku narrowed her eyes, “What, do you think I’m _lying_ or something?”

“That is exactly what I think Kohinata Miku,” Ryoko’s voice deepened as she said that, “You didn’t mention anything about this girl before—”

“I didn’t mention anything because I didn’t think anything she said was important,” Miku said plainly, “Although… Maybe I should’ve mentioned something before… I mean… She did talk to me about Excalibur _before_ I even knew my Gear was Excalibur…”

Ryoko slammed on the brakes, causing the other four cars to suddenly screech to a halt.

“She did _what!?_ ”

“Um… Ryoko-san, you were in the middle of—”

“No. She told _you_ about Excalibur, _before_ we finished our analysis!?” Ryoko angrily unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed Miku’s shoulders, “And you _did not_ think it was _important_ to mention!?”

Ryoko’s fingernails dug into Miku’s skin, “Ummmm… yeah I probably should’ve mentioned that…” Miku said nervously, the pain radiating out from her shoulders, “Could you get back to driving please…”

“ _Stupid Alchemist,_ ” Ryoko muttered as she turned around and gripped the steering wheel.

“What was that?” Miku asked.

“Nothing.”

The silence that followed was awful. It was as if someone had filled the car with ice water, and then poured in boiling hot water just to see what would happen. At least the faint humming of the engine was a noise she could focus on. It was a comforting, it almost made her feel safe in this car. Miku tapped the side of her leg, counting the beat she’d started tapping.

Miku took a deep breath, and opened her mouth.

Suddenly the car shook violently.

“What the—”

“NOISE!” Ryoko yelled as she gripped the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles turning white as she did, “Grab onto something… I’m a good driver, trust me.”

Miku looked around in a panic. The car to the left of them was gone. That must of been what caused the shaking. They weaved down the road. A pillar of Noise burst through the ground in front of them, shattering the car that was there.

Ryoko spun the steering wheel. The car quickly swerved out of the way of the crater.

“AAAAHHHHH!” Miku screamed as the car began to spin out of control.

Ryoko calmly put her hand to her earpiece, “Genjuro-kun shouldn’t we pull out.” Ryoko spun the steering wheel again, barely dodging another pillar of Noise, “That chemical factory is basically a big pile of dynamite.”

“ _I know but they’ve only attacked you’re escorts so far… They seem to be under sentiant control._ ” Genjuro said.

“Are you sure about that?” Ryoko said sarcastically, “They keep appearing in front of us…”

“ _If they’re after Durandal, our best chance is bringing it to someplace dangerous and settle it there.”_

“Tch,” Ryoko narrowed her eyes, “What are our chances.”

“ _Not good, we’re improvising._ ”

Two more pillars of Noise erupted from the ground, knocking the two other cars into the air.

Ryoko slammed her foot on the pedal, and Miku grabbed onto the sides of her seat. They drove through the winding streets, going fast enough to make Miku feel like she was going to barf. They began approaching A facility with a lot of what looked to be factories.

“Is that where we’re headed!?” Miku screamed.

“Yeah,” Ryoko gripped onto the steering wheel, “Hold on tight, it might get a little—”

A Noise suddenly slammed through the car, cutting vertically down the middle. The two halves went flying in opposite directions.

_‘Well then…”_ Miku thought as she rocketed in her seat toward a wall, she sighed, _‘Here goes nothing…”_

_Koleshi Excalibur Tron_

A flash of light enveloped Miku. And she was in her armor once again. The hilt of a blade appeared in her hand. Energy condensed within the middle of the hilt and blasted her seatbelt off. She planted her feet onto the door and jumped, rolling onto the ground and then stood up on her feet.

She turned her blade toward the Noise and sent a blast at them. The Noise disintegrated.

“I know you’re there!” She shouted, scanning her surroundings, “Show yourself!”

“Hmmm? How did you know?” The blonde haired woman walked out of the flames of the wreckage.

“Heh,” Miku smirked, “It was pretty easy to guess… You’re the only person who can control the Noise after all.”

Miku pointed her sword at the woman, “What are you after?”

“Heh, it should be obvious shouldn’t it,” The woman gripped her chain, “I’m after Durandal.”

Miku turned her head and looked at the metal case next to her, “Oh this?” Miku smirked, “You’re gonna have to go through me first if you want it.”

The woman laughed, “You don’t even know how to fight, what makes you think you’ll be able keep me from it.” She said, throwing her chain at Miku. Miku’s barrier appeared in the air, deflecting the chain.

Miku’s grip on her sword tightened, she changed her stance slightly, and then dashed at the woman. The woman sidestepped her, but Miku pivoted hitting the woman in the arm with the blade of light. The woman threw her chain out, it wrapped around Miku’s arm. The woman pulled the chain over her head, and threw Miku through the window a nearby building. The glass shattered, falling around Miku.

The woman turned around, and started to walk away, thinking they were finished, only for Miku to come rocketing back at her.

“Wha—” The woman jumped back in shock at the sudden attack. Miku skidded across the ground and pivoted toward the woman with her sword outstretched. The light of her sword flared to life, growing in size until it looked like the size of a small building. And she swung it at the woman.

**[Dragon Slash]**

A purple barrier spread out from the woman’s hand, blocking the attack. The sword’s light shrunk back down to its regular size. Miku thrust her blade forward, only for the woman to grab onto her arm and held her in place.

“Looks like you learned how to fight,” The woman pulled Miku closer to her, and spat out, “But don’t think that only will allow you to stand up to me.”

Miku desperately tried to pull her arm out of the woman’s grasp, however her grip remained firm. Miku closed her eyes, “Oh so you’re giving up already,” The woman jeered, “I would’ve tho—” And Miku kicked the woman in the chest as hard as she could. The woman released Miku’s arm and staggered backward from the recoil. Miku aimed her sword at the woman, the energy condensed in the base, and it fired.

**[Phoenix Flare]**

The woman put up her barrier and smirked, “You won’t get me with tha—”

“HAAAAA!” The woman turned around just as Miku hit her in the side. She went flying through the air. Miku jumped and landed on a golden barrier she summoned beneath her. She held her hand out in front of her. Small platforms appeared in the air and she jumped from barrier to barrier in pursuit of the woman. The woman threw her chain. It wrapped around Miku’s arm.

The woman pulled the chain backward, dragging Miku toward her. She fired beams from her staff, summoning Noise behind Miku. Miku threw her sword into her other hand, and blasted the Noise that had been summoned. The woman threw the staff to the ground, and gripped onto the other chain. She threw it skyward, and it formed a lasso in the above.

Energy condensed within the chain. An enormous blast of white light shot out of the gate.

**[Refraction Gate]**

The golden platforms disappeared, and a single golden barrier appeared above.

**[Round Table]**

The blast collided with the barrier. It continued its fire as Miku was pulled closer toward the woman. Several cracks formed within the barrier, and it shattered, the fragments falling all around the facility. The woman released the chain around Miku’s arm, and kicked her into beam’s path.

The beam burned Miku’s skin before it blew her off to the side. Her sword dropped out of her hand as she flew through the air. She landed face first, next to the wreckage of the car. The woman landed on the ground in front of her.

“Really now?” She walked over next to Miku, and began sifting through the wreckage, “That’s all you can do?”

She picked up the case containing Durandal and sighed in disappointment, “Here I thought you might be able to awaken this sword, or I would at least get more data to analyze that Gear of yours… I don’t see many conceptual weapons that often…”

The woman turned her back on Miku and started to walk away. Miku staggered to her feet, her body aching all over, but she didn’t care. She clenched her fist tightly and ran at the woman. She ran as fast as she could.

But it wasn’t fast enough. The woman threw a bottle on the ground, it shattered and a magenta symbol appeared beneath her. And she disappeared. Miku’s fist hit nothing.

“Damn it!” Miku yelled, and she punched the ground in frustration, “She got away!”

Miku looked around the battlefield, looking for anything she could salvage from this failure. A familiar staff lay on the ground and she walked over to it.

“ _Miku-kun, come in,_ ” Genjuro said through her earpiece, “ _What happened?_ ”

Miku picked up the staff, gripping it so tightly that her knuckles started to turn white, “Bad news, she got away with Durandal… Good news, she seems to have left what she used to summon Noise behind.”

“ _And Ryoko-kun’s status?_ ”

...Shit. She completely forgot about Ryoko. Miku frantically scanned the area, searching for the brown-haired woman. She was nowhere to be found.

“I can’t find her…” Miku trailed off, her hand by her side tightening into a fist. Of course this would happen. She’d completely forgotten about someone she was supposed to protect. And now she could be dead for all she knew.

Miku looked down in shame. _‘Great job Miku, you failed someone again…’_ She felt a tap on her shoulder. Miku whipped around and came face to face with Sakurai Ryoko.

“Hi,” Ryoko smiled, “Miss me?”

Miku’s eye twitched, “ _Miss me?!_ ” her fingernails began digging into her palm, drawing out a small amount of blood, “I thought you were dead! Where were you!”

“Hiding, isn’t that natural to do when two people are fighting?” Ryoko said casually. Her eyes drifted eyes drifted and suddenly stared at the cane in shock, “Where did you get that?”

“Oh this?” Miku lifted the cane up, “The woman I was fighting dropped it… She must’ve forgotten to pick it back up when she left.”

“I see…”

Miku’s armor disappeared, she tapped her earpiece, “Anyway commander, Ryoko-san’s fine, she just showed up, we’re both safe.”

“ _Alright, we’ll be there to pick you two up in a moment, sit tight._ ”

“Roger.”

\-----

“What were you thinking!” Genjuro yelled, as he slammed his hands down on the table. Miku flinched at the shout from her commander.

Miku’s legs swayed nervously beneath the chair.

“Your actions were needlessly reckless. Why did you decide to engage her?”

“I… I thought I needed to get her away from the case.”

“If you wanted to do that you should’ve just taken the case and ran!” Genjuro said sternly, sitting down his chair, “Under no circumstances should you have engaged her.”

“But she would’ve chased after me, we would’ve ended up fighting anyway!” Miku argued.

“Even so, you still should have ran, it was reckless to actively try and engage her in combat. That was a complete relic, and your Gear is only a fragment of one, there was no way it was going to be able to stand up to her.”

Miku opened her mouth to protest, but she was immediately cut off, “You’re lucky you got out of that as well as you did, if you weren’t the only active Symphogear adaptor we have, I would have suspended you for this.”

“...Sorry…” Miku looked down shamefully.

Genjuro put his hand to his forehead and sighed tiredly, “Just don’t let it happen again.”

“Now, now Genjuro-kun,” Ryoko cut in, “It wasn’t all bad, we did end up with one thing good from that.”

“Right,” Genjuro turned and faced Miku, “We were able to secure the staff that woman was using, so now we can study it and figure out how she was able to summon Noise and seemingly control them using it.”

“We’ll be handing it over to the government in a few weeks after we’ve finished our analysis,” Ryoko said, “In the meantime, I recommend you get some rest, there probably won’t be as much action for a while.”

Miku looked at Ryoko and tilted her head, “What do you mean?”

“I mean… We’ve gotten a hold of what’s probably caused all the recent Noise outbreaks, and this is one of the safest places, so we can afford to take it easy for a while.” Ryoko said.

“Oh…” Miku turned her head to Genjuro, “What about that woman?”

“We’ll be looking into her whereabouts,” Genjuro said, “She stole Durandal and the Nehushtan Armor, and she is the probable cause of the recent Noise outbreaks, we cannot just let her get away with those actions.”

“The problem is,” Ryoko cut in, “We have no leads on her at all. So until then, you can take it easy.”

“So… Am I dismissed?” Miku asked.

“Yes,” said Genjuro.

Miku stood up and walked out of the room.

\-----

It was strange, this feeling. She felt like she was falling into an abyss of darkness, and yet she was alive. No… She wasn’t alive. She simply failed to die. She hadn’t felt alive since that day two years ago. The day when Kanade had died.

Tsubasa closed her eyes. What was it that Kanade had lived for, how had she managed to live like that. She had lived for others, even when she herself had lost so much.

She had lived for others, and had even been willing to die for them. Why, why did she live like that.

“You’re too stiff Tsubasa,” Ghostly arms pulled Tsubasa into a gentle embrace, “You’ll snap someday.”

Tsubasa turned her head, and saw Kanade there behind her. Tsubasa smiled in delight at the sight of her friend.

“Kanade…” Tsubasa her head away from Kanade, “Ever since you left, I’ve been training even harder, I’ve killed more Noise than I can count, I’ve put my life on the line time after time and I kept on fighting without asking myself why. And then I realized…’

The appreanceless abyss faded and changed, they were sitting in the ruined concert hall now. The same place Kanade had died. It was sunset like it had been then, and the dust blew into the wind.

“That there was no meaning or value to my life…” Tsubasa looked down to the cracked ground, “So I wanted to ask you something… For what reason did you live, for what reason did you die, and why… Why did you fight?”

Kanade sighed, “At first I didn’t fight for anything other than single minded vengeance but after a while I realized something… I realized that there might be something beyond all this fighting, or on the other side of it… That there might be something beyond it. That’s what I’ve always thought, and I think I know it now.”

Tsubasa turned around to look at Kanade, “What was it?”

Kanade looked up to the sky. “That’s something you need to find for yourself.”

“You always tease me like this but…” Tsubasa turned her head away, a melancholy expression on her face, “It’s not like you’re around to tease me anymore…”

“Isn’t that fine?”

“No it’s not fine!” Tsubasa yelled into the sunset, “I want to always be by your side!”

“But… isn’t it up to you whether or not I’m nearby?”

Tsubasa’s eyes widened in realization. She hadn’t thought of it like that before. It really was that simple wasn’t it. “Then I…” The world around her faded away.

Tsubasa’s hand twitched, she opened her eyes. She was lying in bed, she heard the EKG beeping next to her.

“Doctor the patient’s coming around,” said one of the personnel tending to Tsubasa.

“Do a full medical check.” said the doctor, “Hurry.”

“Yes sir,” the rest of the personnel said in unison.

Tsubasa smiled slightly, it was strange. At this moment it was like she was cut off from the rest of the world, and time felt like it was flowing slowly for her. She’d only missed school for work related events, or if she had a mission up until now.

Tsubasa smiled, _‘There goes the award for perfect attendance. Don’t worry Kanade, I’m not as stiff as you said. I won’t snap.’_ She felt a tear roll down the side of her face.

\-----

_(Play: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: Loneliness)_

Miku sighed as she leaned over to take another sip of smoothy, gazing out the window of the store. It had been a long day, between the sudden summons, the fighting, and getting chewed out for her failure… Well that was very much her fault… If only she had ran, then maybe…

Miku shook her head, there was no use dwelling on things like that. She looked around back and forth, examining the store around her. Chris had invited her here, though she didn’t really know why. She had accepted anyway, she hadn’t been paying much attention to her surroundings when she came in.

It was a nice place, albeit a little small. The whole place was relaxing, it was a pleasant feeling, hearing the kind of casual conversations that idly filled the shop. It was almost comforting in a way…

But the tension in her body wouldn’t leave, not even in a place like this. Miku hated feeling like this, like an insect standing still, trying to avoid attention. Right when she was convinced she would go unnoticed, as if they knew her guard was down, they would pounce.

Like children flipping over a turtle for entertainment, they watched her struggle, and as Miku seemed to regain composure, they would do it all over again. It would always happen, without fail. Their sneers, their laughs every single one like a sharp needle dragged down her back. Never punching through her skin, but digging in just enough to itch. If she struggled back, the needle would break through the skin, and they would only drive it in deeper. There was nothing she could do to stop them but bite her lip and endure.

Always having to glance over her shoulder, just to make sure someone wasn’t there. They were the predator and she their prey. Even if she let her guard down for just a second they would be right there. Every time, _every single goddamn time_ , it would happen. Again, and again, and again.

Miku flinched. She felt a sudden soft weight fall on her tightly clenched fist. Miku turned to face Chris. The girl’s face was filled with worry.

“Are you okay?” Chris said looking deep into Miku’s eyes.

Miku turned away, unable to hold eye contact, “...Yeah…”

“Really? ‘Cause you’ve had this intense look the whole time we’ve been here,” Chris brought Miku’s fist out between them, gripping it gently in both of her hands, “Like I said before, if you keep avoiding telling—”

“ _I’m fine_ ,” Miku said harshly, violently dragging her hand away from Chris’s grasp, she let her arm fall limply to her side.

Chris looked crestfallen, almost sad in a way. She turned away and quietly said, “Alright then…”

Miku continued drinking her tasteless smoothy, and looked out the window. Even though the sun was shining brightly down through the window, it was still cold. It was silent for a while after that, neither girl seemed to have anything to say to one another.

Miku looked down, a somber expression forming on her face. She shouldn’t have done that… At least she shouldn’t have done it like that. It must have hurt Chris when she did that.

“Hey…” Miku muttered, her voice quivering, “Do you have anywhere you wanna go after this?”

Chris turned around and looked at Miku, Miku couldn’t tell whether the look on her face was one of worry or of shock. “...Yeah I do, why’d you ask?”

“Wanna… go there after this with me?” Miku looked down at the table. Her legs swayed nervously beneath the table.

“Eh?” If Chris hadn’t looked shocked before she definitely did now, “Umm, uh…”

Chris nervously glanced around the shop, her face having turned tomato red, “W-Well it couldn’t hurt.” Chris laughed nervously, “Sure, l-let’s go after this. Hahahah.” Chris put her hands on the back of her head, in an attempt to look casual.

“Alright then,” Miku grabbed her smoothy and stood up, “Where are we headed?”

“Let’s see…”

\-----

_(Play: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: Jump Towards the Morning Sun)_

Miku lagged behind Chris, following her as they walked through the streets. The town was alive with the pleasant buzz of conversations, and several cars passed them as they walked. Chris hadn’t told her where they were going, and from what she could tell, they had been just wandering around for about an hour.

Still, Miku keeping her head down, trying to not look at anyone. She just followed behind Chris as they walked through the busy street.

At least, that’s what she had been doing. She looked up to find that Chris wasn’t in front of her anymore. Miku frantically looked around for where Chris had went, turning her head back and forth, and looking in all directions. She spotted the girl with short white hair standing a few feet back, looking longingly into the window of a shop.

Miku walked back, put her hand on Chris’s shoulder, and said, “Y’know, you could’ve told me to stop, is this the place we were going?”

“N-no, this isn’t the place I wanted to go,” Chris blushed.

“Really?” Miku tilted her head, “Then why did you stop?”

Chris crossed her arms and closed her eyes, “I just felt like stopping here, is all.”

“And stare longingly into the window?”

“S-Shut up,” Chris’s blush grew deeper.

Miku sighed, and started walking toward the shop’s entrance.

“H-hey, where are you going!?” Chris yelled.

“Well, since we’re already here, why don’t we take a look,” Miku answered casually, looking back over her shoulder as Chris quickly followed after her.

The store wasn’t small, though it wasn’t big either. There weren’t that many people inside. However, there were just enough that it was filled with small conversations.

As soon as they got into the store, Chris immediately started walked over to a clothing rack. The rack in question was full of many different types of clothing, many of which had frills on them. She put a hand to her chin, and started humming in contemplation.

“How’s this look?” Chris said, holding up a very pretty red dress. It was woven very intricately, with a lot of lace that made its design stand out.

“Huh,” Miku studied the dress for a moment, then looked back to Chris with a surprised expression, “Didn’t expect you to like this kind of stuff.”

“Sh-shut up,” Chris said, blushing, “Y-You were the one who wanted to go in here in the first place, I-I was just… R-Right I just wanted to see what you thought is all.”

“I wasn’t saying it was _bad_ ,” Miku said, a slight blush tingeing her cheeks, “I just didn’t expect it…”

“Hmph,” Chris put the dress back on the rack, and briskly walked over to another section of the store. A few seconds later, she came back holding two pairs of fingerless gloves, “Which one do you think looks better?”

Miku studied the two gloves for a moment. One was red with several black lines running through it, the other was orange with patches of black and white on the palm and back of the glove.

“...You really like red don’t you…” Miku muttered under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Um. I think the orange ones look good.” Miku said quickly, turning away from Chris, trying not to make eye contact.

Chris took off one of her gloves, and slipped the orange glove on, and studied how it looked for a moment.

“Eh. Orange is Fen’s color not mine, doesn’t look good on me.” Chris said taking off the glove, and setting it on a nearby shelf, “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“It’s fine,” Miku said, she started playing with her hands nervously, “Honestly I thought both looked good.”

“R-Really?” Chris blushed, turning away as to not look into Miku’s eyes, “W-Well, of course they did, I picked them after all. How ‘bout you, see anything you want.”

“Huh?” She hadn’t thought about looking for something she’d wanted, “I, uh, wasn’t looking…”

Chris sighed, “You were the one who wanted to go here, and you weren’t even looking? Well how ‘bout you look for something now then?” Chris said, leaning back on the shelf she had set the gloves on, “What _do_ you like to wear anyway?”

“Hmmm,” Miku put her hand to her chin in contemplation, “Anything with long sleeves, hoodies, and skirts.”

“That… very vague,” Chris hummed in thought before saying, “Could you be just a little more specific?”

“Sorry,” Miku looked down in shame, “I don’t really pay attention to what I wear.”

“Hmmm,” Chris walked forward, and took Miku’s hand in her’s. She brought Miku over to a rack of clothes, “See anything you like?”

Miku looked over the clothes in the rack. Most of the clothes on it were purple, like the hoodie she was currently wearing. Though their designs were very complex, they looked like they must have taken a lot of effort to design them, Miku noted. Though none of them looked like they were really something she would wear.

“Hmmm, I’m not seeing anything I’d like so far…” Miku trailed off when her eyes landed on a dress. Although it was a simple dress, it had some intricacy around the neck area as well as the skirt portion. It had a slight collar to it, and the skirt part was slightly frilled. The skirt portion and the shirt portion were differently colored, the skirt having a dark purple color, and the shirt being pure white.

Miku pulled the dress off of the of the rack, and smiled slightly, “I think this one looks good.”

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t like things with short sleeves?” Chris asked, gesturing to the dress’ sleeves.

Miku shrugged, “I can always put my hoodie over it.” She answered casually.

“So you’re buying this then?” Chris asked, looking over to where the clock was, “Shit.” she muttered.

“Huh?”

Chris grabbed the dress she had been looking at earlier, and grabbed Miku’s hand. She dragged her over to the counter, “We’ll be buying these.” She said putting the dress she was holding, as well as the gloves she had on the counter. She then gestured for Miku to do the same.

Miku didn’t notice that standing near the clock, was a tall woman with brown hair who kept her vision trained on the two the whole time they were there.

\-----

“So, what was that about?” Miku asked as they were walking out of the store.

“It was closing in a bit,” Chris answered, “And I didn’t want to stay too long.”

“Alright then,” Miku stretched, the sleeves of her hoodie falling slightly as she raised her hands to the air, “So, where are we off to next.”

“Hmmm,” Chris put her hand to her chin, “Well I was thinking—”

A sudden scream cut her off.

“W-What!” Chris yelled, Miku took off in the direction of the scream, “M-Miku wait!” Chris yelled as she chased after her.

Miku ran as fast as her legs could take her in that direction. As she approached the alleyway where the voice had came from, there she saw a short girl, her black hair was in two pigtails, and the look of fear was plain as day in her pink eyes. There were two men who were antagonizing her.

“I-I’m sorry,” The girl said, “I-I didn’t mean to bump into you, i-it was an accident.” The girl closed her eyes, and raised her arms in front of her in defense.

“You’re gonna pay for this!” One of the men yelled, grabbing hold of the girl’s arms, holding them behind her back, and held her in place, “You ruined my favorite shirt, and you made me lose my drink!”

“I-I d-didn’t—” The girl was cut off by a sudden punch to her stomach.

The girl’s eyes shot open, tears forming in them, as she winced in pain. The man raised his fist again, the girl braced herself for another hit.

But then she heard an unfamiliar voice, “Oi, this seems like just a bit of an over reaction to something minor, wouldn’t you say.”

“Who the hell are—” The man was cut off. The pink-eyed girl slowly opened her eyes. The man had been punched in the stomach by a girl in a purple hoodie, and he went flying back.

“Are you serious,” Miku spat out, “Get over it, she bumped into you on accident, that’s no reason to start beating her up.” A smirk formed on Miku’s face, “If anything, it was your fault for not paying enough attention, not her’s.”

The man on the ground got up, and pulled out a knife, and pointed it to Miku, “Don’t move!” He yelled.

“Oh, so you’re bringing out the knife over this,”  Miku smirked, “Sorry, I’m sure my teacher is way better at using one than you.”

Miku then quickly turned around, and suddenly charged at the man holding the girl, punching him in the face, causing his grip to become loose. She grabbed onto the girl’s hand, and quickly steered her to the entrance of the alley.

Chris grabbed onto the girl’s hand as soon as she came out of the alley. Miku turned around and ran out as well, grabbing onto Chris’s hand and pulling the two girls along.

They ran for a while after that, by the time they had stopped running, they had ended up in the park. Miku collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

“Are you okay?” She asked between her ragged breaths.

“Y-Yes,” The girl said, letting go of Chris’s hand, and sitting down next to Miku, “Thank you for saving me.”

Miku’s expression suddenly became unreadable, “There’s no need to thank me, anyone would do the same thing. I didn’t do anything.” She said quietly.

They sat in silence listening to how the wind sounded in the park. There wasn’t anybody that they could see in the park, so it was peaceful, just sitting there alone. The black-haired girl looked at the watch on her wrist.

“Oh crap,” The girl’s eyes widened, “It’s this late already, I had to be home an hour ago, those two are probably worried sick.”

The girl stood up quickly, and started walking before stopping for a moment and turning around. “I’m Tsukikage Ako, nice to meet you, maybe I’ll see you around later.”

“See you around Ako-chan,” Miku said, “I’m Kohinata Miku, and that’s Yukine Chris.”

Ako nodded, and began quickly walking away. Miku laid down on the grass, and felt the breeze run over her skin. She turned around and looked at Chris.

Chris was gazing into the distance, not looking at anything in particular. Her expression was downcast, almost as if she was disappointed in something. Chris gave a tired sigh.

Miku opened her mouth, intent on asking if something was wrong, when her phone started suddenly ringing very loudly.

“Hello?” Miku said, she paused for a moment listening, “Yes… Wait right now? Why? she doesn’t even like me!”

Another pause, Miku sighed, “Fine, I’ll go look after her for you. Don’t complain if it goes badly.” And she hung up.

“Sorry Chris, something came up,” Miku sighed again, and looked back to Chris, “Apparently I have to take care of a girl who doesn’t even like me now.”

“...It’s fine, I don’t really mind,” Chris said quietly, still looking into the distance.

“I’ll make it up to you later,” Miku stood up, “I promise.” She said as she walked off.

Chris sighed as she watched Miku walk away, and she sat down on the ground. She looked downward, and exhaled, _‘What am I doing… That girl… She’s been working so hard, every single day for the past month… And here I am… Hiding because I’m scared of being found…  And not helping anyone with my power… And then there she goes, trying to save a girl she didn’t even know without a second thought.’_

Chris pulled her legs closer to herself, _‘Compared to her… I’m just…’_

Chris stood up, “I already know you’re there, you don’t need to hide, she’s gone already.” She turned around to see the brown-haired woman standing behind her, “Finé.”

\----

Miku slowly walked through the hallways of the hospital, passing several staff members as she did. She stopped in front of a room. Miku looked up to check if the room was right, _‘Room 402, that’s the room Ogawa-san said was Tsubasa-san’s, I think.’_

Miku took a deep breath, _‘“You’re the only one I can trust to do this.” What the hell gave you that impression Ogawa-san, she doesn’t even like me. Whatever, well here goes nothing.’_ The door automatically opened when Miku took a step forward.

“What the—!”

The room was an absolute mess. It was like some kind of struggle happen within it, clothes were thrown all around, and there was trash all over, empty bottles spilled over, and there was paper thrown throughout the room.

“It can’t be…” Miku said in disbelief as she scanned the room.

“What are you doing.” Tsubasa said, Miku turned around quickly.

“Tsubasa-san! Are you alright!”

“...Are you really asking a hospital patient if their fine?”

“B-But when I saw this,” Miku gestured to the mess in Tsubasa’s room, “I thought something bad might have happened to you!”

Tsubasa started blushing as she looked over the mess in the room.

“And at base, they were talking about conspiracy and…” Miku stopped, noticing Tsubasa’s blush and embarrassed expression, “Um…”

\-----

“You really didn’t have to do this,” Tsubasa said, looking at Miku folding her clothes.

Miku looked up, and stared at Tsubasa for a moment, “I’m doing this because Ogawa-san asked me to look after you, and I am not doing that in a dirty room.”

“I don’t really care about stuff like that,” Tsubasa blushed, turning her head away.

“Really? I used to think you were someone who did everything perfectly.” Miku said, walking over to the dresser, and putting Tsubasa’s clothes in it.

“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Tsubasa muttered, she looked down slightly, “I only know how to fight.”

“And finally finished cleaning up,” Miku dusted off her hands and turned around to face Tsubasa.

“Thanks,” Tsubasa paused, her expression turned serious, “I’ve been reading the reports and you’ve done a good job at taking my place.”

“No… I haven’t been doing a good job at that at all,” Miku said, she walked over to the bed Tsubasa was sitting on and sat down, with her back facing Tsubasa’s, “Most of the time, it’s just others helping me out.”

Tsubasa stood up and walked over to the window, “I wanted to ask you something, why is it that you fight?”

“Huh?” Miku turned around to face Tsubasa.

“Fighting Noise isn’t a game, you should know this now since you’ve faced death multiple times now. So tell me, why do you fight. What made you decide to join this life so willingly.”

Miku turned back around, looking down toward the ground,  “I… I never really thought about it… I just did is all, but…”

“But?”

“Now that I’m thinking about it… I think I decided to join this life… because I couldn’t find any meaning inside my own life…”

“And that’s all,” Tsubasa turned around, staring at Miku. The look in her eyes intense enough to make most that looked into them turn away that same instance, “You decided to join a battle which you could very well lose your life in, simply because you couldn’t find any meaning in it?”

“No… that’s not it,” Miku turned around to face Tsubasa, a broken smile forming on her face, “I joined because I’d lost it a long time ago, I think I joined because I wanted to die.”

“I see…” Tsubasa walked over and sat down next to Miku, “You’re more similar to me than I thought… I want you to promise me something.”

Miku looked at Tsubasa questioningly.

“I want to stop fighting only to die and to try finding a reason to fight, and I want you to do the same,” Tsubasa turned to Miku, her eyes filled with determination, “If you cannot promise me this, I suggest that you should stop fighting.”

“I…” Miku looked away from Tsubasa and back to the ground, “I’ll try…”

“Good, I’d like to ask you one more question. Would you like to train with me once more, Kohinata?”

“Why?”

“Just asking, you don’t need to answer right now.” Tsubasa smiled, “And I heard you learned how to fight, I want to see how good you are now.”

“Alright then,” Miku said.

A moment of silence passed over the two girls. A moment that was broken when Miku’s phone started ringing.

“Hello?”

“ _He-Help me!_ ”

“Chris! What’s going on! Where are you!”

“ _I—_ ” The phone suddenly cut off. Miku’s eyes widened.

Miku looked up in a panic, before her phone suddenly rang a second time, “Hello!?”

“ _Miku-kun, the signal for the Nehushtan armor has appeared again on our scanners, we need you—”_

“Where is it!” Miku yelled back, “I’ll get there right away!”

“Kohinata, what is—”

“Got it,” Miku hung up quickly, and she started running out of the room.

“Kohinata wait!”

\-----

“Tired of running yet, _Chris?_ ” The woman threw another one of her chains, it cut the tree behind the girl in half.

“Heh, not even close, _Finé_ ,” Chris said, though her tired pants betrayed her words.

“If you’d just come back with me, you wouldn’t have to—” Finé jumped back as a glowing purple sword slashed in front of her, “Tch, your tenacity really has no bounds.”

“Looks like I got here in time,” Miku wheezed, turning her head to face Chris, “Are you alright Chris?”

Chris nodded, and Miku turned back toward the woman, “Why are you here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to punish a disobedient child.”

“Well, you’re going to have to go through me first,” Miku said pointing her sword at Finé, “How about round three, this time I won’t lose anything to you!”


End file.
